


Justice League: Unlimited Season 1

by Soron66



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy - Fandom, Justice League: Unlimited
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-05-24 01:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 73,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14944970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Soron66/pseuds/Soron66
Summary: My custom version of Star Lord that shares the same title but is named Soron MacLeod returns home from his last day as a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy then loses his Wife Gamora and his daughter Nebula to Thanos before getting sent to one of the DC universes unintentionally. The title of the story belongs to DC and i believe WB as this story is an AU of the actual Justice League: Unlimited series. I don't own either fandoms. This story was also inspired by The Incredible Muffin's Ben 10: Unlimited. you can find it on on the fan fiction website. delete the space between fan and fiction when you search for it on google. this site won't let me put its link down. please do leave a kudos if you like it, and please do leave reviews/comments if i need to fix things or if you just like it. getting those makes me want to work on the story more and more. without them i'll lose my drive.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the Starcrossed movie story arc will be next.

Prologue

 

A man dressed just like Star Lord from the MCU except for the fact that his helmet was colored black with some grey lines on it touched down on the lawn of a house located on Earth. This man also happened to have the same blasters strapped to his thighs and small jets strapped to his boots.

“Daddy!!” said a young green skinned girl with black hair wearing a sundress while she ran towards the man.

“Hey there little one!” the man said in equal excitement while picking her up, “You’ve gotten so big! How old are you now? 7? 8?”

“I’m 9 years old!” the girl said indignantly, “I’m not little anymore! I’m a woman!”

“Course you are,” the man said with a smile behind his helmet as he let her back down onto the ground.

“Welcome back honey,” said the happy female voice of his wife who was a darker shade of green than her daughter.

“It’s good to be back,” the man said as he deactivated his helmet revealing his face. He had blonde hair which looked more brown, blue eyes, and had a ghost of a beard growing.

“Supper’s on the table already,” the woman said she embraced her man.

“Can’t wait,” the man said as he pulled away and looked into her eyes, “maybe later we can have a little… you know… _dessert?_ ”

“Soron!” the woman gasped, “not in front of Nebula!”

“Sorry,” Soron said sheepishly, “I can’t help it. I haven’t had any tail in a long time.”

“At least that’s changed,” his wife said, “I can’t have you cheating on me with other women. As soon as you have eaten, I want you to go clean yourself up.”

“I don’t smell that bad do I?” Soron asked as he lifted his arm to smell his armpit. That caused him to gag a bit before he added, “Nevermind. I do.”

Just as they sat down something smashed through the door causing Soron to reach for his blasters. They weren’t strapped to him anymore and were instead in the closet. All three family members paled when they saw who it was. It was Thanos… alive and kicking.

“Gamora,” Thanos snarled, “You will pay for the dishonor you have given me!”

“Gamora!” Soron said sternly, “Grab Nebula and get out of here!”

“You’re no match for him!” Gamora said as she began to cry, “He’ll kill you!”

“I’m glad I got to see you two again one final time,” Soron said before he grabbed a blaster rifle from under the dining room table and blasted Thanos with it. Gamora quickly picked up Nebula and ran as fast as she could without looking back in fear she’ll see Soron die.

“You made my daughter weak!” Thanos growled as he grabbed a chunk of the wall and threw it at Soron who managed to dodge out of the way quickly, “For that I will kill you slowly while she watches. However, you’ll get the luck to see me squish your child’s head in my hand before you die.”

“I’ll never let you get near them again!” Soron yelled as he kept blasting with the rifle. However, Thanos’ body armor began resisting the blasts allowing him to walk towards Soron.

“That’s not up to you boy!” Thanos said as he grabbed the rifle and ripped it in half before kicking Soron in the chest causing him to fly to the wall behind him.

“I can do this all day,” Soron said as he grabbed a box and then poured the black substance all over himself.

“A symbiote,” Thanos said unimpressed, “Like you’ll do anything to me even with that.”

“Course we will,” hissed the symbiote as Soron became Agent Venom once more, “Nobody threatens my family and gets away with it!”

Agent Venom quickly formed two blasters in each hand and blasted at Thanos to which Thanos only shrugged off as he continued walking towards Soron. However, unlike before Soron was ready. He quickly used a tentacle to quickly back away from Thanos before punching a hand through the floor grabbing an even more powerful blaster rifle which he absorbed into his arsenal.

“I hope you like zed neutrino energy Thanos!” Agent Venom yelled before charging up the shot which allowed Thanos to get closer. Once he had, the rifle had reached max charge so Agent Venom let the laser go right in Thanos’ face. Thanos was actually shocked by this as he was sent flying through the roof.

“Asshole,” Agent Venom muttered before he made the symbiote go back inside of him and pulled out his Avengers ID.

“Star Lord to Avengers,” Soron said into the card as he pressed the avengers symbol, “I need immediate assistance. Thanos is here. Repeat, Thanos is here.”

Soron then walked over to his closet and strapped his blasters back onto his thighs. He then activated his helmet which formed around his head before blasting off through the hole he made to see what happened to Thanos. However, when he got there Thanos was nowhere. Suddenly, Soron heard a scream which made him fly over to its origin as fast as possible. When he arrived he saw Gamora and Nebula’s dead bodies on the ground.

“No!” Soron yelled in anger as he touched down next to their bodies.

“You have impressed me boy,” Thanos said from behind him, “For that I will make your death fast.”

As soon as Soron turned around Thanos snapped his fingers on his right hand which now wore the infinity gauntlet with all of the stones attached to it. The next thing he knew he was on top of a building which confused him, but he didn’t care as his grief took over entirely causing him to roll into a ball to cry out his pain.


	2. Starcrossed Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron rescues the Justice League and hides out with them. Agent Venom returns.

Starcrossed Part 1

 

It had been a few hours since Soron had ceased crying his heart out and he was now walking down the street of a normal human city. There were people with nervous expressions as they casually looked up at the sky every now and then. Soron didn’t think anything of it since alien invasions had become commonplace on Earth. However, what did catch his attention were two winged men who flew down and landed right in front of him. They wore red armor that looked like they belonged in Conan the Barbarian and had a red hawk symbol on their chests. Each one was armed with what looked like a futuristic spear.

“Halt human!” said one of the birdmen, “Show us your identification.”

“Come on man,” Soron said, “Everyone in the galaxy knows who I am.”

“No we don’t,” birdman 1 said.

“I’m Star Lord. You know, a former member of the Guardians of the Galaxy and occasionally an Avenger,” Soron prodded.

“Who?” birdman 1 said in confusion.

“Oh forget this,” Soron said right before he pulled out his blasters and blasted them point blank in the chest. He then activated his helmet before flying up into the sky.

**Meanwhile, in the Thanagarian prison shuttle…**

Two bird people were walking down a room with cells that held the entire Justice League. When a man in a red and blue outfit with an S on his chest and was shackled under red light saw them he rushed at them.

“Traitor!” yelled the man before collapsing to the ground. The male birdman just continued walking while the female stayed there a few seconds longer before catching up with the birdman.

“Look at them,” sneered the birdman as they continued walking, “weak, useless, broken.  It would have been difficult to storm their watchtower without the access codes you provided.”

“Also you’re analysis of their weaknesses was most helpful,” the birdman continued as they stopped in front of a cell that had an african american man clothed in black and green outfit who looked up to glare at the two.

“That one will be the least trouble of all,” the birdman continued, “He’s nothing without his toy.”

“Don’t underestimate them,” the bird lady said as she turned to look at the man.

“You’re right,” the birdman grinned as he pulled out a weapon, “perhaps we should make sure they are not a threat.”

“Better still,” the birdman added as if it was an afterthought while holding out the weapon to her, “perhaps you should.”

The bird lady took the weapon and looked at it before returning it as she said, “The point of this occupation is to make peace while we finish our mission. If we kill Earth’s heroes, the natives will revolt. Our best plan is to build the shield, then go.”

She then walked off and added over her shoulder, “Make sure they’re well taken care of.”

Unknown to her the birdman grinned evilly as he came up with an idea as to how to “take care of them.”

**Later…**

Everything was silent as the Justice League were stuck in their cells without any ideas how to escape when suddenly the hull exploded inward and then the debris was vacuumed out into the sky above the Earth. Just before a force field formed a person flew in through the hole.

“So you are the heroes of Earth?” Soron asked as he cocked his head, “I have to say you’re not very impressive.”

“Who the hell are you?” asked the african american man.

“I’m Star Lord,” Soron replied as he removed one of his blasters from his thighs, “and I’m the one busting you guys out of this joint.”

“How do we know you’re not just a mercenary sent to kill us all?” asked the one dressed like a bat.

“Is he always this paranoid?” Soron asked the african american man.

“Yes!” the entire Justice League excluding Batman said in unison.

“I don’t feel like explaining myself to ya,” Soron said to Batman, “so you’re just going have to go with the logic of “innocent until proven guilty.””

“We’re waiting,” the african american man said impatiently.

“Oh right,” Soron said as he blasted the cell door controls. He then blasted the lock holding the shackles on the african american man.

“Thanks,” the man said as he walked out of the cell.

“Here,” Soron said as he handed a blaster to the man, “This way the prison break can go faster.”

As soon as everyone was freed the african american man handed the blaster back to Soron. Before anyone could talk some birdmen barged into the room with melee weapons and blasters.

“Get your friends out,” Soron told the woman dressed in a leotard that resembled the american flag, “I’ll handle these guys.”

He then blasted at them taking a few down when suddenly the man dressed like a bat leaped over him and landed on a guard knocking him to the floor. The woman literally flew into the fray blocking the blasts with her silver colored bracelets. Suddenly, a red streak of lightning sped by taking out the remaining birdmen.

“Okay,” Soron said suddenly, “I take it back. You guys are awesome.”

“Glad to hear,” said the woman, “Now did you have a plan on how to get out of here?”

“I usually just wing it,” Soron said, “Works out for me 90% of the time.”

“Not very inspiring,” said the man dressed as a bat, “I have a plan. Follow me.”

He then lead them threw the ship as stealthily as possible. Eventually they reached what looked like an engine room, but what caught his attention was a control system meant for the force field system.

“You happen to have any more explosives on you,” the man dressed as a bat asked without looking at Soron.

“Explosives?” Soron asked, “I used my last one to get in the ship.”

“Give me one of your blasters,” the man dressed as a bat said.

“Why?” Soron asked before he realized, “No way! These were a gift from an old friend of mine! I’m not going to let you explode them.”

“Fine,” the man dressed as a bat said, “Wonder Woman go wreck the place.”

“Thought you’d never ask,” Wonder Woman smiled before she flew in and began tearing the place up.

“Flash,” the man dressed as a bat said, “How much more energy do you have?”

“I used my last of it to take down the Thanagarians,” Flash responded.

“Fine,” the man dressed as a bat said, “Star Prince Blast the engine till it explodes when I say to.”

“It’s Star Lord and sure thing,” Soron said as he aimed his blasters at the engine.

As soon as Wonder woman was done destroying the place Batman gave the command and Soron blasted till the engine exploded. Thankfully the explosion was more like an implosion which allowed the Justice League along with Soron to get back through the hole in the cell room. Wonder Woman carried Batman and Flash while Martian Manhunter carried Green Lantern. Soron and Superman just flew on their own power. Behind them the prison shuttle crashed into the ocean below.

**Somewhere in Metropolis at night…**

The Justice League and Soron casually peeked around a corner as a Thanagarian tank with a searchlight hovered by before running to the opposite side of the street into another alleyway. Somehow the Thanagarians that flew down the street just as they snuck by didn’t even see them. They stopped at a corner when they saw two Thanagarians in red armor before continuing their path. They quickly hid as another hover tank passed them when the Thanagarians didn’t notice him. Eventually they arrived at the back of a store which was locked. However, that didn’t stop Wonder Woman from breaking the lock and opening it.

“Everyone,” the obvious martian said, “Inside.”

They then hurried into the building before anyone could see them. 

“That x-ray vision working yet?” the african american man asked the blue and red outfitted man.

“Just enough to see hawk soldiers still patrolling the skies,” the blue and red guy answered.

“They’ll have the whole city covered by now,” the Martian said grimly.

“Who knows?” Flash suggested, “Maybe they’ll get tired and go home.”

That caused everyone to look at him as if he was an idiot.

“Yeah I know,” Flash said defensively, “but a little optimism at a time like this couldn’t hurt.”

Suddenly a light started going buy as a voice spoke, _“This is the voice of the Thanagarian authority. Your so called Justice League is in violation of our martial law. They are to be considered an enemy and dealt with on sight. Any person found aiding or harboring them will be similarly punished.”_

“Okay,” Flash said in disappointment, “so much for optimism.”

“For the time being,” the man dressed as a bat said, “we’re gonna have to go underground,”

“How exactly do we hide when the entire planet is looking for us,” Wonder Woman asked.

“They’re looking for the Justice League,” The Martian said as he touched a piece of clothing.

“Without our costumes,” the Martian continued as he shapeshifted into a human form, “We’re merely ordinary citizens.”

“Good plan,” Soron said, “Except for the fact that it sucks. It would be a lot better if we go with my plan.”

“We still don’t know if we can trust you or not,” the man dressed as a bat said.

“He is not our enemy,” the Martian said, “It appears he has defended the entire Galaxy most of his adult life.”

“Then how come I haven’t heard of him?” the african american asked as he narrowed his eyes.

“Right back at ya,” Soron said before he realized that the martian knew him, “Wait how do you know what I’ve done?”

“I’m a telepath,” the martian replied.

“Whoa dude!” Soron said a little annoyed, “Haven’t you heard of privacy?”

“I had to make sure you were an ally,” the martian said.

“Couldn’t you have at least asked?” Soron asked.

“No,” the martian replied, “I couldn’t risk the chance that you would sell us out to the Thanagarians.”

“Well,” Soron said slowly, “Okay then. Next time please ask before reading my mind.”

“Very well,” the martian replied.

“What exactly is your plan?” Wonder Woman asked.

“I don’t have one, but two of the chicken heads know what I look like without my helmet on so I can’t exactly go out and about as a civilian,” Soron said.

“Then I guess we’ll have to find a disguise for you,” Wonder Woman said, “I have the perfect look in mind for you.”

“Hold on a second here,” Flash said quickly, “What about the whole secret identity thing? I mean, I trust you guys but I’m not sure I’m ready to-”

“Wally West,” the man dressed as a bat said as he pointed to him then the others, “Clark Kent, Diana Prince, John Stewart.”

“Bruce Wayne,” the man dressed as a bat finished as he removed his mask.

“In costume do you call yourself Man-bat, batguy, or rodent man?” Soron asked suddenly while Flash muttered to himself and removed his mask.

“Man-bat is someone else entirely,” Bruce said, “I’m Batman.”

“Red hair,” Wonder Woman said as she ruffled Wally’s hair, “It suits you.”

“You think?” Wally asked as he tried to flirt.

“Change,” Bruce said as he threw a pair of pants at Wally, “now.”

**Later…**

Wonder woman now wore a light blue shirt, blue jeans, and was in the process of smoothing out her ponytail. The african american man had put a stocking cap on his head, a hoodie over a black shirt and a shade of green pants on his legs. Clark Kent was now wearing a blue suit and tie including glasses as he usually does when dressed as Clark Kent. Bruce was now wearing a black coat over a grey turtleneck and had grey pants on. Wally wore a jacket colored similarly to the african american’s pants which was over a white t-shirt and had blue jeans on with running shoes on his ffet. Soron now was wearing a black wig with long hair, a jean jacket, blue jeans, black running shoes, a fake beard on his face, contacts to change his blue eyes brown, and had a duffle bag with all of his gear inside. A minute later they were looking out of an alleyway as Thanagarians flew around.

“Split up,” John Stewart said, “They’ll be looking for seven of us. Not pairs or a group of three.”

“Our rendezvous point?” the martian asked.

“We’re about thirty miles from Gotham City,” Bruce decided, “We can regroup at my house there, but try and keep a low profile.”

He and Clark then walked off while Soron and Diana walked off in another direction. That left Wally and the martian to stick with John Stewart.

“Thirty miles through hawk infested territory,” Wally said skeptically, “No problem.”

**Later…**

Soron and Diana were walking down a sidewalk when they stopped as they saw a Thanagarian terrorizing a couple of civilians.

“Your identification,” said the Thanagarian as it pulled the purse away from the civilian woman.

“Hey!” said the civilian man, “Leave her alone!”

That only got him rewarded with a push to the ground causing him to grunt in pain.

Diana was about to head over to them when Soron stopped her as he said, “Diana, don’t.”

“You would stand here and do nothing?” Diana demanded.

“Course not,” Soron said indignantly, “I just think we should do something in a way to not reveal who we are.”

“How exactly do you plan to do that,” Diana asked skeptically.

“Just follow me,” Soron said as he casually led her past the soldier and when he was sure that nobody was looking he put the duffle bag down.

“What are you doing?” Diana asked.

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” Soron said sternly, “I’m about to do something I don’t like doing at all.”

Suddenly, black ooze wrapped itself around Soron and the next second later Agent Venom stood in his place.

“Stay here,” Agent Venom said, “I’ll handle this.”

Before Diana could speak Soron used a tentacle to pull himself to the rooftop where he ran towards the edge and jumped on the Thanagarian.

“Nothing can withstand the rage of Agent Venom!” Agent Venom yelled as he formed a blaster and blasted a Thanagarian in the face, “Anybody else want some?!”

The other Thanagarians in the area quickly swarmed him, but they were rendered unconscious in a matter of seconds. Agent Venom then used a tentacle to get himself onto the rooftop again and then jumped back down into the alley where the ooze disappeared and Soron was back in his civilian attire.

“What was that?” Diana demanded.

“A symbiote,” Soron replied as he sat down in exhaustion, “I had to rebond with it recently. Unfortunately, I have no way to get this thing off of me so I’m stuck with it for as long as I live.”

“Well judging by the way it treated the Thanagarians I think it’d be best if you don’t use it again until we can study it,” Diana said as she helped Soron up, “To better understand it, that is.”

“I won’t use it if I don’t have to,” Soron promised as he picked up his duffle bag, “Now let’s get going.”

However, just as they got out of the alley some Thanagarians spotted them, “There!”

“Maybe I should’ve just let you reveal yourself,” Soron muttered in annoyance as he and Diana ran down the sidewalk. Suddenly they saw an Arabian man gesturing for them to frantically get inside the restaurant.

“In here!” said the man, “Please, hurry.”

Soron and Diana took a second to look behind them before hurrying into the restaurant where the man escorted them to a table.

“We can’t stay here,” Soron said, “If they find you helping us…”

“Here,” the Arabian man said, “Sit here.”

An Arabian woman quickly came in the restaurant and put a handkerchief over the top of Diana’s ponytail the man quickly removed the obvious fake beard and the wig. As soon as Thanagarians walked in the room the Arabian man walked over to them while Diana quickly pulled Soron into a kiss.

“We’re looking for a dark haired man and woman,” said the Thanagarian.

“If perhaps you could be more specific,” the Arabian man said as he gestured throughout the whole restaurant.

“Has anyone entered here recently?” the Thanagarian asked.

“No,” the Arabian man replied.

“What about those two?” the Thanagarian asked as he pointed at Soron and Diana.

“Uh huh,” the Arabian man said, “The lovebirds. Been here for hours. Also, one of them is blonde.”

“Let’s move on,” the Thanagarian said in disappointment before he and the rest of his soldiers left the restaurant. As soon as they left Diana and Soron moved away from each other.

“Sorry,” Diana said.

“It’s alright,” Soron said as he remembered his wife, “You’re great kisser… I’m just not ready to…”

“Ready to what?” Diana asked, “Did something bad happen to you recently?”

“Let’s just leave it at that,” Soron said as he fought back his tears, “I can’t… I just can’t talk about it yet.”

“Okay then,” Diana said, “Whenever you’re ready, just know you can always confide in me.”

**At Wayne Manor…**

Soron and Diana stepped up to the door of Bruce’s mansion and rang the doorbell.

“I know a guy who had a mansion,” Soron replied, “He turned it into a school. What a bunch of goody two shoes he turned them into. I suppose that’s better than what Magneto would’ve done.”

“The more I hear about you the more I get confused,” Diana said as she raised an eyebrow at him.

Before Soron could reply the door opened and an elderly man with a small black mustache looked at them.

“Hi,” Soron said, “We’re here to see Bruce Wayne. We’re friends of his.”

“Of course,” the old man said as he stepped aside, “Master Bruce is expecting you.”

“So how long have you been here?” Soron asked as he and Diana followed him.

“I’ve been in service here since the Master was in diapers,” the old man answered as they stopped at a grandfather clock. The old man then opened the grandfather clock’s door and pressed a button on the inside which slid it to the side revealing a doorway making Soron’s eyes open wide in surprise.

When they arrived in the batcave the other League members looked up at them.

“Your guests have arrived sir,” the old man said before he stepped aside allowing Diana and Soron to walk down the stairs towards the others.

“You’re late,” Bruce said when Diana and Soron reached them.

“A Guardian is never late,” Soron said defensively, “Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”

“You stole that from Lord of the Rings!!!” Wally accused.

“Okay,” Soron admitted, “but it is actually very true for me.”

Soron then noticed something in his peripheral vision and turned to look at it.

“Oh you have a stuffed dino,” Soron said unimpressed, “I’ve seen the real thing.”

He then noticed a huge penny and dropped his jaw.

“T-t-t-t-thats a h-h-huge p-p-p-penny!” Soron stammered as he pointed at it.

“And I thought Batman was the detective,” the old man said dryly from behind him.

Soron’s reaction to his huge penny got him to smirk but the smirk vanished before Soron could see it when he turned around.

“We were just speculating why the Thanagarians are really here,” the martian said to Soron and Diana when Soron returned to the group.

“Obviously not to protect us,” Clark said.

“But if the Gordanians aren’t actually anywhere near Earth why do they need to build that forcefield?” Diana asked.

“If it is a forcefield,” Bruce said.

“Oh it’s not a forcefield,” Soron said, “I’ve done enough cons to know one when I see it. What they’re building is more than likely a doomsday device.”

“He’s right,” said the voice of that Thanagarian woman from the cellblock right before she walked into the light. That caused everyone except for Soron to get surprised and then angry. When Soron saw her, he was a bit skeptic of her allegiances but he knew enough to not judge someone based on what they looked like.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up here,” Clark said as he removed his glasses.

“We should thank you,” Diana said angrily, “It saves us from having to hunt you down.”

“Whoa whoa whoa,” Soron said as he stepped between the leaguers and the Thanagarian woman, “How about we listen to what she has to say, and then if we don’t like it she can become a punching bag?”

“Anything she says is a lie!” John said angrily.

“It’s not as if she betrayed you!” Soron said trying to make them see sense, “Heck you’re only wanting to attack after what her people did.”

“Maybe she’s… trying… to..." Soron trailed off when he saw their expressions, “Oh she did betray you.”

“All yours,” Soron said as he stepped aside.

“I didn’t come to fight,” the hawk lady said, “I came to help.”

“Hawk people all over the planet,” Wally said angrily, “Martial law, us getting chased like dogs. I don’t think we can take much more of your help.”

“The situation is worse than you think,” the hawk lady said as she towards Bruce, “They’re building a hyperspace bypass. When its activated it’ll destroy the planet and everything on it.”

“Here,” the hawklady said, “This has all the information on the project. Believe me, I didn’t know the magnitude of Talak’s plans.”

“We’ll check it out,” Bruce said reluctantly and distrustfully before he turned around as he added, “there’s the door.”

Everyone except for John and Soron walked past the hawklady completely ignoring her except for Soron who touched her shoulder.

“Give them time,” Soron said kindly, “Getting betrayed doesn’t do wonders for one’s trust issues. Believe me, I know. As a person who married the daughter of a homicidal despot I know how to forgive being betrayed. She betrayed me more than once before we married. As long as she was with the Guardians I couldn’t trust her completely, but when she decided to retire from the Guardians of the Galaxy that changed completely.”

Soron then gave her a small smile which she returned a little bit before he joined the others.

“Aren’t you going to turn your back on me too?” the hawk lady asked before she turned around to see John Stewart.

“Last time I let my guard down,” John replied distrustfully, “you sucker punched me.”

“It wasn’t personal,” hawklady tried to explain.

“Keep telling yourself that,” John said bitterly.

“I did what I thought was right then,” hawklady said as she walked up to him, “and that’s what I’m doing now.”

She then reached into a pocket and pulled out a green ring with the symbol of a lantern engraved on it. That caused John to stare at it in surprise before looking up at her still angry. He then grabbed it and held it up before the hawklady stepped back and flapped once to get herself into the air and flew out of the batcave as John looked up after her.

**Meanwhile, with the Thanagarians…**

“We’re triangulating her position from the tracking device you planted on her,” said a Thanagarian grunt, “I have a fix on the location.”

The screen they were looking at changed to a map with a red dot centered on a specific part.

“Ready the strike squad,” the Thanagarian officer from the cellblock that walked with the hawklady said, “This time they will not escape.”

 

To be concluded in Starcrossed Part 2


	3. Starcrossed Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron attempts a sacrifice. Shayera chooses the right side. Heroes are victorious.

Starcrossed Part 2

 

“Ingenius,” Bruce said as they watched the simulation of the Earth being destroyed by the Thanagarian device.

“Yeah,” Clark said as he took off his glasses, “I’m impressed. Let’s go wreck it.”

“How?” John asked as he gestured towards the screen, “It’s behind a forcefield.”

“A forcefield controlled from the command chair,” Bruce said as he clacked on the batcomputer. Then the screen showed a Thanagarian construction and highlighted a certain part of it.

“Go shut it down,” Bruce continued, “I’ll take care of the generator.”

“That thing’s the size of a city,” Wally asked skeptically, “What are you going to do? Throw a batarang at it?”

“Something like that,” Bruce said cryptically. Suddenly, the sound of an explosion could be heard from upstairs.

“She sold us out!” John said angrily, “I knew we couldn’t trust her.”

“Quiet!” Bruce ordered, “Get into your suits and hide!”

As soon as they had some Thanagarians entered the cave.

“Spread out,” ordered the Thanagarian with a goatee as they touched down on the cave floor, “They’re hiding here somewhere.”

One of the Thanagarians aimed what looked like a laser bazooka, but suddenly a green laser came from the shadows cutting the bazooka in half.

“Uh uh,” Green Lantern said as he walked into the light now clothed in his Lantern uniform, “All through hiding.”

“Come and get some,” Green Lantern added as he raised his fist up.

The lead Thanagarian flew up into the air at the same time Green Lantern did and fired a blast of energy from the axe he was wielding, but missed and only hit the wall sending a some stalactites crashing down to the floor below. The other Thanagarians flew up to join him in taking down Green Lantern. One of the ones that flew up to fight GL was taken down by a blast of green energy. A golden rope flew towards another Thanagarian from behind and wrapped around his legs. Wonder Woman then swung him around right into Martian Manhunter who clotheslined him. A red streak of lightning rendered one Thanagarian unconscious while another aimed a sidearm at him. However, Superman grabbed the gun crushing it causing the energy to burn the Thanagarian causing him to cry out in pain.

“Let’s use our inside voice,” Superman said before punching him causing him to fly back into a big stalactite. Said stalactite went falling down point first towards the ground.

Wonder Woman was right under it blocking blasts from Thanagarians, but didn’t even know it was going to crush her. It would have if Soron now in his Star Lord outfit hadn’t rammed into her pushing her out of harm’s way. One of the Thanagarians was currently firing a beam of violet energy at Flash, but as is expected he missed and only destroyed some of the trophy cases in the cave.

“You saved me,” Wonder Woman said to Soron.

Soron shrugged, “I wasn’t about to let a beauty like you become pancaked.”

Across the room Flash was creating arm vortexes sending two Thanagarian women soldiers flying into the giant penny which fell down on top of them.

“Tails,” Flash said when he appeared on top of the penny, “I win.”

In another part of the cave a Thanagarian soldier fired his bazooka, but missed and ended up getting knocked down by Batman kicking him with his feet. As soon as Batman landed on the ground he threw three batarangs at three incoming soldiers. When the batarangs hit them, the batarangs began flashing red for some reason.

“Your weapons are pitiful,” one of the soldiers said unimpressed.

“Wait for it,” Batman replied. Suddenly, bats came from around Batman and swarmed them biting or scratching them with their talons.

With Superman, he had just caught the axe blade of the Thanagarian officer and pulled sending him flying across the room into Mr. Freeze’s freeze gun’s trophy case. The soldier pushed himself up into a sitting position as Superman walked towards him. He then grabbed the freeze gun, aimed it at Superman, and squeezed the trigger sending out the arctic beam, but Superman used his super breath to blow it back at the soldier freezing him solid with a panicked expression on his face.

“Let’s go,” Batman said as he walked past the frozen soldier with Wonder Woman, Star Lord, and Martian Manhunter behind him in the air.

**Later, up in the second story of the Wayne Mansion…**

Alfred was sweeping up the glass as the Justice League and Star Lord came down the stairs.

“Mind the glass sir,” Alfred said as the heroes walked past.

“I want you, Superman, and Wonder Woman to go to the command ship and shut down the force field,” Batman said to Green Lantern.

“And the rest of us?” Martian Manhunter asked.

“You’re going to help me retake the watchtower,” Batman said to Martian Manhunter.

“It’s crawling with Thanagarian soldiers,” Flash said skeptically when he appeared in front of Batman, “How you planning on getting inside?”

“With that,” Batman said as he looked at the Thanagarian starfighter.

“I’m going too right?” Star Lord asked.

“Of course,” Batman said, “I want you where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Okay,” Star Lord said, “That’s cool.”

“Be careful,” Wonder Woman said to them as she, Superman, and Green Lantern flew off into the sky.

**In the starfighter…**

Martian Manhunter sat in the pilot’s seat without doing anything.

“Well?” Batman asked.

“I have no idea how to fly this vehicle,” Martian Manhunter admitted.

“Oh move over,” Star Lord said impatiently, “Did i forget to mention that I’m the primary pilot of my ship, the Milano?”

“I doubt you’ve ever flown anything sophisticated as this,” Batman said sceptically as Soron sat down in the pilot’s chair.

“Watch the master,” Soron said as he looked at the ship controls, “Ah yes this is just like a Kree starfighter.”

He then pressed a button and the ship fired up to everyone else surprise. Flash quickly buckled up in a seat.

“I stand corrected,” Batman said as he sat down, “J’onn is still going to fly this thing. Show him the controls then buckle yourself up.”

“Fine,” Soron grunted as he got out of the pilot’s seat and J’onn took the chair.

Once J’onn had it figured out they lifted off into the sky and towards the night.

**Late, heading towards the Watchtower…**

J’onn J’onzz sat in the pilot’s chair and morphed into the Thanagarian Officer with the goatee.

“Shuttle ellipsen 16 requesting entry,” J’onn said, “confirm docking code.”

“Okay,” said a Thanagarian over the com, “code confirmed.”

“You are clear to come aboard,” continued the voice as the docking bay doors of the Watchtower opened.

Two Thanagarian soldiers in red armor were waiting patiently and watched as J’onn walked down the gangway in the form of a Thanagarian.

“We weren’t expecting you sir,” said the soldier on the left.

“There’s been a change a plans,” J’onn said before he morphed into a giant light green monster and backhanded the two soldiers away.

Another soldier was on the way however. Said soldier aimed a rifle at J’onn but it jerked out of his hands as a batarang hit it. He looked to his right and saw Batman coming right for him, but was unable to prevent being punched in the face with some high-tech brass knuckles. In the hallway beyond six more Thanagarians were coming towards them. Flash and Star Lord came out of the starfighter to take those guys on. Star Lord began blasting and Flash punched one in the face before running around the other soldier a second before throwing lightning at him. When he was done he saw Star Lord had finished blasting the soldiers that were in the air.

“That was new,” Batman said to Flash.

“What can I say?” Flash said with a shrug, “I have an electric personality.”

That caused Batman to raise one eyebrow before leading them to the main room.

**Later in the main room…**

“Okay,” Flash said as J’onn dropped a soldier, “Watchtower’s ours now.”

He then ran over to Batman while Martian Manhunter and Star Lord walked up behind him.

“So where’s your secret weapon?” Flash asked.

“You’re standing in it,” Batman said.

“Wait,” Flash said trying to understand, “You mean we’re gonna…”

“Take the Watchtower out of orbit,” Batman explained, “and drop it right on top of their little science project.”

“Am I the only one seeing a flaw with this plan?” Star Lord asked.

“No,” Batman said, “Because there is none.”

“We’re all going to die if we do this!” Soron said as he deactivated his helmet.

“Not if we use the escape pods,” Batman replied as he entered a program to start the descent, “That includes the Thanagarians. Now let’s go carry them there.”

**At the escape pod…**

Batman, Soron, and Martian Manhunter dropped some of the soldiers into the escape pod right before Flash arrived with three more and dropped them as well.

“Is that the last of them?” J’onn asked Flash.

“Yeah,” Flash replied, “The tower’s completely pest free.”

“Good,” Batman said right before he was pushed into the escape pod. Just as he turned around the door closed on him locking them in there as the pod jettisoned.

“What are you doing?!” Batman demanded.

“Exactly what you were going to do,” Soron replied as the pod got even further away, “I’m going to guide it in manually. We don’t really know anything about each other, but I know why I arrived here this week. You’re Earth’s mightiest heroes. The Earth needs you. It doesn’t need me. I wasn’t even supposed to be here anyway. Live long and prosper.”

**In the main room…**

Soron ran to the main computer as the room began sparking about as the screen popped up the words “close shutters” in red. A chair pulled up behind Soron as a picture of the Earth with a red line forming a swirl till it ended in an arrow that pointed to a particular spot on the globe. Soron then sat down and put on the seat belt before grabbing the steering device which extended from the computer. On the screen lay a course for him to follow manually which he did so.

A few minutes later the emergency lights were on, fires were flaring, and it was getting hotter by the second.

“Hey,” Soron said through the watchtower com while things fell down in the background, “We’re cutting it a little close. Have you shut off the force field?”

“Not yet,” Superman said as he used his heat vision, “Where are you?”

“Aboard the watchtower,” Soron replied, “Guiding it to target.”

“That’s insane!” Superman and Wonder Woman said at the same time, “Get out of there!”

“Yeah,” Soron said, “Can’t do that. Only way to ensure we’re victorious. I’m actually Hooked on a feeling-”

**On the Planet…**

Suddenly the transmission cut off making both Superman and Wonder Woman concerned.

“I can’t fly fast!” Wonder Woman yelled knowing Superman can hear her, “go do what you do best and save him!”

**Outside of the watchtower as it fell…**

Superman flew as fast as he could to the Watchtower which was very fast. In the meanwhile, Soron had his helmet activated so he could see and breath, but his vision was blurring due to the heat. Eventually the heat overtook him and rendered him unconscious just before Superman smashed through the hull and picked him up chair and all. Superman then flew out of the watchtower as it crashed into the Thanagarian device causing it to explode like a nuclear bomb. When the explosion ceased, all that was left was a smoking crater. All was quiet till a giant boulder shifted and was flipped away as Superman stood up. Superman moved Soron to a much more comfortable position before he woke up.

“You just had to be the hero didn’t you,” Superman said.

“Right back at ya,” Soron said after he deactivated his helmet before looking at the wreckage and whistled before he added, “I wish Rocket could’ve been here to see this. He would’ve wanted to record it.”

**Later at Wayne Manor…**

Soron MacLeod and Shayera Hol sat on the couch while watching the news which depicted hundreds of Thanagarian ships leaving the planet. Eventually, Shayera turned off the tv and stared at her feet.

“They’ve been in there a long time,” Shayera said sadly.

“Yeah,” Soron said, “But that means that there are people fighting for you. Me and and the Guardians did the same. Drax wanted to kill Gamora, Rocket wanted to give her to the Nova Corp for the bounty, and Groot? Well, Groot was Groot. I’ve never been able to understand him, but I believe he fought for Gamora. Eventually, I had to come up with the decision as leader, and Gamora agreed with it.”

“What decision was that?” Shayera asked curiously.

“Give her a chance to redeem herself in any way that she chose,” Soron replied, “she chose retirement.”

They had been talking for the last several hours, Soron trying to raise her spirits, and she spent some of the time listening to some of Soron’s adventures with the Guardians and even earlier, the Nova Corp. Though Soron had been trying to make Shayera feel better, in truth, he’d actually improved in his own mood. Talking about the good times from the Golden years of his life allowed him to remember the other happy times he had during the last few years prior to his retirement when he had visited with Gamora and young Nebula as much as possible.

He knew he’d never get over it, but he knew that he could feel better. At the very least he knew he wouldn’t try to sacrifice himself again for the reasons he did earlier in the day. Although, he was feeling slightly better he could tell that Shayera was still depressed. She had lost everything. Just like Soron did, but Soron had gained a few allies that day and possibly friends that would stick by him. Shayera had betrayed her friends and her entire species.

Now here she was, watching her own people fly off in defeat, knowing it was her fault. Without her Thanagarian armor, and all of her other clothes destroyed along with the watchtower. Bruce Wayne had at least provided her with a pair of jeans, shoes, and a white t-shirt with the back cut away to allow for her wings.

“Look Shayere,” Soron sighed, “I know at least a portion of what you feel. I know what it’s like to lose everything.”

She looked at him in confusion which prompted Soron to continue, “You may have lost your friends’ trust, but at least they’re still alive. You can rebuild that trust as hard as that may be. I lost my wife and child quite recently to a homicidal despot. He killed them to make me suffer and punish his own adopted daughter.”

She looked at him in shock at the fact that Soron was able to push through that trauma, helped the Justice League save the world, and even attempted to sacrifice his own life to do it.

“I’m just going to say this,” Soron continued, “If you hadn’t made the sacrifices you did, there’s a good chance that we wouldn’t be here to hear that annoying reporter’s voice on the tv.”

Shayera gave a small smile as Soron placed his hand on her shoulder, “Whatever they decide. In my eyes, you’re an honorary Guardian.”

Shayera smile grew bigger and this time genuine before she hugged him to show her gratitude.

**Inside of the meeting room…**

“She exploited our weaknesses, betrayed us…” Wonder Woman said angrily as she had been ranting about Shayera’s betrayal, and probably had already repeated her own points several times by now.

“Come on,” Flash said in Shayera’s defense, “she was in the ultimate no-win situation; but when push came to shove, she came through for us, like always.”

“She is a pariah to her people,” J’onn added, “We are all she has left.”

“Believe me, J’onn, I feel for her,” Superman said honestly, “But after everything that’s happened, I honestly don’t know if I can ever completely trust her again.”

Green Lantern just stared down at the table, silent ever since the discussion began.

“We’re arguing in circles,” Batman said suddenly, “It’s time to take a vote.”

**A minute later, outside of the meeting room…**

“Excuse me Miss Hol,” Alfred said as he entered the room. Both Soron and Shayera stood up apprehension on their faces, “They sent for you.”

“Thank you Alfred,” Shayera said which the butler nodded to before walking away. She then turned to Soron and added, “Thanks Soron.”

“No problem,” Soron said with a smile, “No matter what happens, if you need some help don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll be there as fast as possible.”

As soon as Shayera entered the meeting room Soron walked over to the adjacent wall. He was curious as to what the League will decide concerning Shayera’s fate. Maybe they’d go easy on her. Suddenly a cough sounded from behind him making him jump a little. When he turned around he saw Alfred, with a small smile on his lips. Before Soron could explain what he was doing Alfred put his ear to the wall, and gave Soron a wink. Soron grinned and followed suit.

**Inside the room…**

Shayera entered the room to find the League members all standing in a line. All had their backs straight and their shoulders squared. Even Green Lantern who had his right arm encased in a cast.

“Hawkgirl…” Superman began.

“Before you start,” Shayera interrupted, “I have something to say.”

She took a deep breath before she continued, “I came to this planet, a patriot. I had a mission and I carried it out. What I couldn’t expect was that I would come to care for Earth, and her people.”

She looked at each Leaguer in the eye even Batman who stared at her in suspicion, and Wonder Woman, who still gave her a look of contempt. She then continued, “That I’d come to care for all of you. I’ve spent the last five years torn between my feelings and my duty. I won’t ask you to do the same.”

Her spine then straightened and some of her old personality returned as she concluded, “Therefore I am resigning from the Justice League, effective immediately.”

She turned and walked towards the door leaving six ex-teammates stunned. Flash recovered fastest and stopped her long enough to give her a hug. She then returned it before continuing her way.

“Great,” Flash muttered, “No Hawkgirl, no watchtower, what’s going to happen to the League now? Do we all just walk away?”

“No,” J’onn said, “We rebuild. Starting today.”

“J’onn’s right,” Superman agreed, “Earth still needs us, and we’ll never let her down. It’s our duty.”

Green Lantern just stared down silently.

**With Soron…**

“I meant what I said earlier,” Soron said as he shook Shayera’s hand after she told him her decision, “Guardians always have another’s back.”

“Till then,” Shayera said before she walked over to the balcony to think on what to do next and feel the wind blowing through her hair.

“Excuse me sir,” Alfred said to Soron, “They’re ready for you.”

“Thanks Jeeves,” Soron said causing Alfred to roll his eyes and sigh. Soron then headed towards the meeting room as Green Lantern walked past him. The entire Justice League except for Green Lantern sat at the table patiently.

“Now then,” Superman said, “What to do with you.”

**With Shayera…**

She stood with her eyes closed when some footsteps stopped behind her. She opened her eyes, but didn’t turn around as she knew who it was.

“You never asked how we voted,” John Stewart remarked.

Shayera barely looked at him before looking at the sunset as she responded, “It doesn’t matter.”

“So…” John asked, “Where are you gonna go?

“I don’t know,” Shayera responded honestly after a moment, “Some place where the fate of the world isn’t in my hands. Some place where there are no more secrets, no more lies.”

“Was it all a lie?” John asked.

That made Shayera turn to look at him as she said with a small smile, “I love you John. I never lied about that.”

After a moment of staring into his eyes, Shayera Hol turned around opened her wings and flew off into the sunset.

John stewart watched her go, until she was too far to see. Only once she was gone did he allow the tears to fall.

“I love you too,” John said quietly

 

The story has only just begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't worry, i'm nowhere near finished. i apologize for the starcrossed story arc. i know i didn't do it that well, and made it shorter than it should be. however, the later chapters are much better.


	4. Interim Part 1: Adjustment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron goes to stay at the Kent farm. Soron meets Supergirl and the agents of the DEO.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this isn't the episode 1 from the actual cartoon series, but I decided to do a few chapters to build up to that first.

Interim Part 1: Adjustment

 

Soron MacLeod stood in front of the six remaining members of the Justice League, waiting to see what they were going to do with him. After all, he’s a complete stranger to them and they to him. Superman was the first to speak.

“Well,” Superman said, “Star Lord, first we’d like to thank you for all that you did during the Thanagarian invasion. The world needs more heroes like you.”

“You’re welcome,” Soron said, “But I’m no hero. I just don’t like dickwads like the Thanagarians. If they weren’t dicks towards me, I wouldn’t have chosen to help you guys. Also, before I arrived I had just retired from saving the Galaxy. I still don’t know if I want to come out of retirement.”

“I don’t understand,” said the Flash in confusion, “why wouldn’t you want to be a superhero?”

“I’d rather not talk about it,” Soron said as he looked away to hide the pain that was showing, “But the not-so-jolly green guy over there has my permission to look into my recent past from two days ago.”

J’onn remained silent as his red eyes glowed as he looked to see what was affecting Soron so. A few seconds later he clenched his hands in anger as he saw that Soron had gone through the same thing as he did.

“J’onn?” Superman asked when he saw J’onn’s clenched fists.

“Two days ago,” Soron said as his expression enraged, “One of the worst enemies me and my team had ever faced attacked my home just as I had sat down for supper. I fought him while my wife, Gamora, and my young daughter, Nebula, made their escape. Nothing I used against him worked till I used a weapon that my friend Rocket designed to kill anything. I had doubted I was victorious, so I went to check on the area he had crashed. However, when I got there he was gone. The next second I heard a scream, so I flew as fast as I could… but I was too late. Thanos had killed them. Then he walked up behind me and snapped his fingers.”

“I don’t understand,” Wonder Woman said, “Snapped his fingers? What do you mean?”

“There are six infinity gems,” Soron explained, “The time stone. It allows you to control time. The power stone. Makes you stronger than you normally are, and only the strong may use it. The Mind stone. That allows you to take over people’s minds. The Space stone which allows one to create portals and go to other places. There’s reality stone that gives you control over what reality looks like. Finally there’s the soul stone. Not too sure what that one does. There’s also a gauntlet that allows one single person to wield all of the stones safely. With that Thanos is able to destroy half of the universe with a single snap.”

“I’ve never heard of those things before,” John said skeptically, “How do we know he isn’t making this stuff up?”

“His heart is beating normally,” Superman said, “He’s not lying.”

“Then he’s delusional!” John persisted.

“Maybe,” Batman said slowly before he looked over to the Flash and asked, “What do you know of the Multiverse theory?”

“I know it’s more than a theory,” Wally said, “The Multiverse exists, but…”

“But what?” Batman asked.

“But I never encountered a reality that ever mentioned these infinity whatsits,” Flash said.

“I believe he isn’t delusional and is telling the truth,” Wonder Woman said.

“What makes you say that?!” John exclaimed.

“Show them,” Wonder Woman said giving a look at Soron.

“I don’t ever want to put it on again,” Soron said, “I told you that.”

“It’s the only way to prove it to John,” Wonder Woman said, “now do it.”

“Fine,” Soron said before he closed his eyes and concentrated. The next second later the black ooze covered him from head to toe and then Agent Venom stood in front of them.

“There,” Agent Venom said, “I did as you asked.”

Everyone except for Wonder Woman looked at him with wide eyes and dropped their jaws in shock. Even Batman, who is normally straight-faced, did so.

“Okay,” John said slowly, “I believe him now. What is that thing?”

“Star Lord says it’s a symbiote,” Wonder Woman explained, “And he isn’t able to unbond from it now since he has no way to get it off of him.”

“Why didn’t you show it to us?” Batman asked as he narrowed his eyes.

“I don’t really like the symbiote,” Soron said, “It brings out the worst in me and it loves getting into fights.”

“Makes sense,” Superman said slowly, “You can make that disappear right?”

“Yes,” Soron said as he concentrated again which made the symbiote vanish from sight.

“Back to the topic at hand,” Batman said.

“Alright,” Superman said, “Would you mind stepping outside for a bit Soron?”

“Sure,” Soron said, “I need to get out of here before I do something stupid anyway.”

“Well his story brings the “bring him into the Justice League” plan tumbling down,” Flash said once Soron had gone.

“He has lost everything that held meaning for him,” J’onn argued, “It’s a wonder he hasn’t lost his mind already.”

“I had seen his pain when I looked in his eyes after I kissed him in that restaurant,” Diana said softly, “But I didn’t know how bad it was.”

“You kissed him?” Batman asked with a raised eyebrow which made Diana blush.

“Anyway,” Batman continued, “On top of the loss of his family, he found himself on an Earth not his own. He was forced to fight in a battle that he shouldn’t have been a part of from the beginning, and he hasn’t had time to grieve. Or if he did, it wasn’t enough.”

“I think I’ll take him with me to Themyscira to the rejuvenating pools of the Gods,” Diana said, “I may no longer be welcome there by my mother, but I have to make amends with her.”

“Wouldn’t bringing a man to an island full of women that hate men do the polar opposite?” Wally asked.

“Well crap,” Diana groaned.

“We could contact the Legends?” Superman suggested.

“No,” J’onn said shaking his head, “They’re too busy dealing with a Time God.”

“I’ll take him to Gotham,” Batman said, “I’ll have Gordan give him a job till he gets back on his feet.”

“Gotham is way too violent,” Superman said, “what he needs right now is peace and quiet. I’ll take him to the Kent farm in Smallville.”

“Okay then,” Batman said, “Now what shall we do about his symbiote?”

“I have an idea,” said a voice right behind them. When they looked they saw Doctor Fate standing there.

“Could’ve used you in the battle against the Thanagarians,” Batman frowned.

“I was busy dealing with a lord of chaos,” Doctor Fate said, “Besides you had it handled.”

Batman only grunted in response indicating he didn’t have anything he could counter that with.

**With Soron…**

Soron sat on the couch in front of the tv as he stared at the floor trying to rein in his anger. He was interrupted when some footsteps stopped right next to him. Soron slowly looked up to see Alfred standing there.

“Here’s a cup of tea sir,” Alfred said as he held it out.

“Thanks Alfred,” Soron said quietly as he took it.

“No, thank you,” Alfred said shaking his head, “You stopped Master Bruce from making that horrible sacrifice. He is like a son to me, so I would be in terrible shape should he have died. You are always welcome here in my opinion, sir.”

Conversation was cut short as the door to the temporary meeting room opened revealing a man wearing a blue outfit, a golden cape, golden boots, golden gloves, and a golden helmet

“Hello there,” said Doctor Fate as he walked out of the meeting room, “You have something you desire removed from you correct?”

“Who are you and how did you know that?” Soron asked in confusion.

“I am Doctor Fate,” Fate replied, “I know that, because I’ve been keeping an eye on you ever since you arrived to be sure you weren’t a threat.”

“Stalker much?” Soron said a little unnerved.

“Only when it is necessary,” Fate replied, “Now if you’ll let me, I’ll remove the symbiote from you.”

“Nothing affects it except for sound,” Soron said skeptically, “I doubt you’ll be able to remove it.”

“Never doubt the magic of a Lord of Order,” Fate said before firing a beam of golden magical energy into Soron causing him to cry out in pain.

A few minutes later Soron was on the couch and inside of a high-tech containment unit was the symbiote.

“What happened?” Soron groaned as he opened his eyes.

“Doctor Fate removed the symbiote from you,” Diana said softly from right next to him, “He said that it really wanted to stay in you, which is why it was so painful for you.”

“Please do keep that thing away from me,” Soron said as he inched away from the containment unit, “Lock it up somewhere nobody can get it. It’s too dangerous.”

“Agreed,” Batman said now in his civilian clothes, “John, when you return to Oa to get your ring fixed take that thing with you. I’m tempted to study it, but it’s too dangerous.”

“Sure thing,” John said before he grabbed it with his free hand just as Kilowog arrived, “See ya around.”

Kilowog then flew him and John back to Oa while Flash returned to Central City and J’onn just morphed into an african american man and sat down to watch the tv.

“You’re coming with me to my farm,” Superman said as he walked up to Soron, “There you’ll get some peace and quiet.”

“Sounds nice,” Soron grunted before he looked at Diana and said, “Thanks for everything.”

“Anytime,” Diana said as she smiled before she sighed and headed off to the balcony that Hawkgirl had flown from that day.

**Later, at the Kent farm…**

Superman and Star Lord arrived at the Kent farm which looked like it did on the brilliant tv series Smallville.

“Home sweet home,” Superman said as he opened the door to his house, “Hey mom and Dad.”

“Clark!” Martha said as she hurried to him and embraced him, “When those bird people said they had defeated the Justice League we were so worried.”

“She remembers that but forgets that the bird people said the Justice League had escaped,” Jonathan said as he gently pulled Martha off of him, “Who’s your friend?”

“This is a new friend,” Superman said, “He calls himself Star Lord.”

“Isn’t that a bit presumptuous,” Jonathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Hey,” Soron shrugged, “I only adopted the name from my friend in order to keep his legacy going.”

“You’re in good hands,” Superman told Soron before he left the house, “I have to go show Lois that I’m still alive.”

“Hungry?” Martha asked.

“Might be a good idea to have some food,” Soron said, “I haven’t gotten a chance to eat for two days.”

“We have some leftover steak from last night,” Martha said, “Spaghetti from yesterday’s lunch, and I could make you some eggs.”

“I’ll have the spaghetti,” Soron said as he sat down.

“Since Star Lord isn’t your real name, what is?” Jonathan asked as he drank some of his orange juice.

“Soron MacLeod,” Soron replied.

“Well Soron,” Jonathan asked, “Have you ever done work on a farm?”

“No,” Soron said shaking his head, “I imagine is tough.”

“You have no idea,” Jonathan said, “It’s much easier with a superhero for a son though.”

“Undoubtedly,” Soron said as Martha put the plate in front of Soron.

“When you’re done I’ll show you what to do,” Jonathan said, “Not going to let you mooch off us.”

Soron rolled his eyes in his mind while he ate, but outwardly he didn’t show his annoyance.

**Later…**

After Jonathan had shown Soron what to do Soron got down to work. He began with hauling the hay, then mucked the stalls, and later fixed the tv antenna for the Kents using his jets. When he was done it was nearing sunset and Superman was now returning.

“Dad put you to work?” Superman asked as he and Soron touched down on the ground at the same time.

“Not a fan of the work,” Soron admitted, “but it gave me time for myself. It was quiet.”

“Okay then,” Superman said before he paused then continued, “Bruce said he was going to bring you your papers tomorrow. After that you’ll be able to move to a new place.”

“Tell him I said thanks,” Soron said before he yawned, “I’m going to go conk out.”

Without another word Soron headed back inside and walked up the stairs and plopped down on the bed in Clark’s old room.

**The next day…**

Soron woke up and slowly got out of bed as he stretched before he headed out of the room. As soon as he did so he accidentally bumped into someone. When he stepped back he saw it was a young blonde woman who looked like Melissa Benoist that was completely naked. His face suddenly went red right before he turned around and tried to rub the sight out of his eyes.

“Huh,” said the woman sleepily before she completely woke up and screamed as she blurred into her room.

Soron slowly turned around and when he saw that the naked woman was no longer standing there which prompted him to believe he imagined it. He then walked down the stairs and sat down at the table before he got back up to get a box of cereal, a spoon, and a bowl. After he put those on the table and filled his bowl he grabbed some milk to put inside of it. Once he sat down again he began eating, and while he was eating he widened his eyes as he saw that blond woman from before now in a white t-shirt and some jean shorts enter the dining area.

“You,” the girl said before she blurred at him and pushed him against a wall while raising a fist, “Tell me who you are and why you’re here!!!”

“Soron MacLeod!” Soron said placatingly, “I’m only here temporarily alright!”

“Kara,” said Martha’s voice from the doorway, “He’s a friend of Clark’s.”

“Oh,” Kara said a little bit guiltily, “Then you can stay.”

She then leaned in towards his ear and whispered, “Ogle me while I’m naked again and I’ll throw you to the other side of the galaxy.”

“Sure thing ma’am,” Soron whispered nervously, “You’re not the first woman to say that to me.”

“How long will you stay here?” Martha asked.

“I only stayed here last night as a pit stop,” Kara said, “I’ll be heading back to National City after some breakfast.”

“Well it’s always nice to see you here Kara,” Martha said kindly.

Kara then sat down across from Soron and they both ate their breakfast in silence.  Once they were done Kara blurred herself back to her room while Soron took both of their dishes to the sink and washed them.

“What are you going to do today?” Martha asked, “More chores?”

“Heck no,” Soron said, “I’m just going to go flying through the skies so I can see a lot of stuff. Lots to see, places to go, and all that.”

“Then why don’t you start with National city?” Kara asked from the stairway now in her supergirl outfit which was the same as the one in the Supergirl tv series.

“Why not,” Soron shrugged before he and Supergirl headed towards the doorway. He then paused and looked at Martha and said, “Someone will arrive here today with some papers for me. If I’m not here before he gets here…”

“I’ll be sure to acquire them,” Martha smiled, “Now go have fun.”

Kara and Soron then stepped outside as they both looked up into the sky Soron activated his helmet and pressed a button on his belt which activated his jets. Then they both flew up into the sky and headed towards National City.

“How fast can you fly?” Kara asked.

“This is as fast as I can go,” Soron replied as he flew with his arms out behind him and his palms pointed towards the ground.

“Looks like you need an upgrade,” Kara said as she flew away superfast and then reappeared right next to him.

“Show off,” Soron said.

**Later, in National City…**

Soron and Supergirl touched down on top of a tower and surveyed the city.

“So what do you think?” Supergirl asked.

“I think… I don’t know what I think,” Soron said as he deactivated his helmet.

“Come on,” Supergirl said while Soron reactivated his helmet, “I’ll introduce you to my friends.”

Supergirl then flew across the city with Soron close behind her. He did all he could not to stare up her red skirt as it flapped about in the breeze.

Suddenly, Supergirl stopped flying and then bulleted down towards the ground. Soron just hovered there as he watched her do her job. She landed right in front of a school bus that was out of control and stopped it. The citizens that were nearby applauded her for her heroic save which prompted her to smile and wave to them before flying back up into the sky.

“Didn’t come down to help?” Supergirl asked.

“I’m just flying for the thrill of it,” Soron explained, “Not all that interested in being a Guardian again. At least not right now. Besides, you had it handled.”

“Fair enough,” Supergirl said as she led Soron towards a building. When they landed some people in black outfits came to greet them.

“Your friends are soldiers?” Soron asked without deactivating his helmet.

“Supergirl,” said the voice of an african american man as he walked up, “Welcome back.”

“It’s good to be back Hank,” Kara said as she smiled, “anything change while I was gone?”

“It’s been quiet,” Hank replied, “I don’t like it.”

“Quit being so paranoid,” Supergirl said, “Just learn to accept it. Once, you do you’ll be much happier.”

“Supergirl!” said a female agent as she walked up.

“Hey Alex,” Supergirl said as she pulled the agent into a hug who was a bit hesitant.

“Oh don’t worry,” Supergirl said when she noticed the way she was looking at Soron, “He’s friends with my cousin.”

“Is that so?” Hank asked before he looked at Soron, “In that case, let me formerly introduce you to the DEO. I’m director Hank Henshaw, and the woman that Supergirl hugged is my top agent. Alex Danvers.”

“Okay then,” Soron nodded before he activated his boots, “Later.”

“You’re leaving already?” Supergirl asked.

“I’m not going to become involved in a government organization,” Soron replied before flying off into the sky.

“He’s smarter than you Kara,” Alex said.

“Hey!” Kara said defensively.

“If you hadn’t become involved in the DEO you would be able to do your own thing,” Alex said, “You would have also been able to help defend the world from those white snot-like aliens.”

“True,” sighed Supergirl.


	5. Interim Part 2: Part Time Hero

Interim Part 2: Part Time Hero

 

Diana landed on her home island of Themyscira and widened her eyes at what she saw. The place was in ruins, and that prompted her to fly as fast as she could through the ruins looking for any survivors.

“Mother!” Diana said when she saw her mother laying there with a burn mark on her chest.

“Princess Diana of Themyscira,” said a disembodied voice, “I’m so glad you’ve returned home. Now we can meet for the first time my granddaughter.”

“Who is that?!” Diana yelled in rage, “Show yourself!”

The entity only chuckled in response before Diana knelt by her mother again. She quickly checked for a pulse, and fortunately there was one albeit faint. She quickly picked her up and flew away from Themyscira towards Wayne Manor as fast as she possibly could.

**With Soron…**

Soron was on his way back to the Kent farm using his jets when his helmet suddenly began ringing. He quickly answered it.

“This is Wonder Woman,” said the voice of Diana, “I need your help. My mother is barely alive, and Themyscira is in ruins.”

Soron was about to respond when the Diana repeated what she said several times which indicated it was an S.O.S on a repeating loop. He saw the Kent farm below and a black limo pull up into the driveway so he headed towards the farm. As soon as he touched down he ran over to the limo.

“Eager to leave the farm?” Bruce asked as he stepped out of the limo while noticing Soron running towards him, “So would I if I was in your shoes. Anyway, here are the papers to indicate that you are a legal citizen of the United States.”

“That’s unimportant right now,” Soron said as he deactivated the helmet and put the object behind Bruce’s ear before activating it, “Listen to this.”

After a few minutes of listening to the S.O.S Bruce quickly deactivated the helmet and handed the object back to Soron who put it behind his ear again before handing him the papers and getting back into the limo. Before Alfred started up the limo again, Soron jumped into the limo with a determined expression on his face.

“I’m going to help Diana as well,” Soron said when Bruce looked at him.

“I thought you were retired,” Bruce said with a raised eyebrow.

“I will NOT lose anyone else,” Soron said darkly, “If Diana or any of my friends on this Earth are in trouble I’ll be there to help. Consider me a part-time hero for now.”

“Very well,” Bruce said before he looked at the rearview mirror and added, “Drive as fast as you can within the speed limit.”

“Very well sir,” Alfred said, “to Wayne Manor then?”

“We have nowhere else to use as the headquarters for the Justice League,” Bruce replied.

“Wayne Manor?” Soron asked as he opened the sunroof, “I’ll meet you there.”

Soron then climbed onto the roof and activated his helmet before flying off into the sky with his jet boots. Seeing as he can fly, he’ll get there before Bruce who was stuck on land.

**Later, at Wayne Manor…**

As soon as Soron arrived at the mansion he saw Diana sitting next a blonde woman in a light blue dress. He deactivated his helmet when he landed on the balcony before walking over to Diana.

“I got your S.O.S,” Soron said as he walked up making Diana jump in surprise.

“You startled me!” Diana said as she held her right hand over her heart, “Why are you here Star Lord? I didn’t expect you to come…”

“I came because you needed help,” Soron said, “I’m going to do what I can to help if at all possible.”

“Thank you,” Diana said with a smile, “that’s really kind of you.”

“I do my best,” Soron said as he sat on the table next to her, “how’s she doing?”

“Her condition hasn’t changed since I found her on Themyscira,” Diana said sadly.

“Well,” Soron said, “When Alfred gets here he can take care of her while we investigate what happened to her.”

“Sounds good,” Diana said as she laid her head on Soron’s shoulder making him blush.

“Um,” Soron said nervously, “what are you doing?”

“Using your shoulder as a headrest,” Diana said casually.

“That’s fine as long as that’s ALL you’re doing,” Soron asked.

“Don’t you find me attractive?” Diana mock pouted.

“Sure I do,” Soron replied, “Inhumanely so. I’m just not ready to move on from Gamora and I don’t know if I ever will.”

“Oh,” Diana said mentally face-palming herself as she had forgotten that Soron had recently lost the love of his life, “Sorry…”

“It’s okay,” Soron said, “The way I am composed, I wouldn’t be surprised if one thought that I was perfectly fine.”

They just sat like that for what felt like hours till they heard some footsteps and turned to see who it was. Bruce and Alfred had arrived and Alfred was hurrying over to the couch.

“How long has she been in this condition?” Alfred asked as he used his medical skills to inspect Hippolyta.

“An hour at the most,” Diana replied as she watched anxiously.

“She’s alive,” Alfred said before he sighed, “This is beyond my skill. All I can do is make sure she’s stable.”

“That will have to do,” Bruce said as he walked into the room in his Batman outfit, “Diana. Star Lord. Let’s go.”

“We’ll meet you there,” Diana said as she and Soron headed to the balcony.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Batman said.

Soron activated his helmet before he and Diana took off into the air. As Soron has never been to Themyscira before he elected to follow Diana who was from there.

When they arrived at Themyscira nothing had changed since Diana’s previous visit. Everything was still in ruins and on fire, and it still made Diana sad. They decided to wait till Batman arrived which wasn’t what Diana really wanted to do, but luckily it didn’t take long for him to get to Themyscira. As soon as he landed he jumped out and walked towards them. All three of them then walked through the ruins till they arrived at the location Diana found her mother.

“She was laying right there,” Diana said as she pointed to the ground.

“Was there anything else?” Batman asked as he knelt next to the spot Hippolyta had lain.

Diana just looked away as to not answer him, but that acquired Soron’s attention.

“What is it you’re not telling us?” Soron asked.

After a moment’s hesitation Diana told them about the disembodied voice that said she was his granddaughter. Soron scratched his head at that while Batman put his fingers to his chin and stood thoughtfully. Suddenly, something shifted which caught their attention. Diana was the first to react as she flew towards it and lifted some debris. As soon as she did, she cocked her head to the side in confusion.

“I don’t…” Diana trailed off as Batman and Soron reached her location. They looked down and saw what looked like an infant. Said infant was blonde haired and happened to be a girl. Suddenly, she opened her eyes which were glowing green.

“Hello my granddaughter,” said the voice as the child suddenly began aging before their very eyes. The voice was a combination of man and woman so it was very unnerving.

“What is going on?” Soron asked as he pulled out his blasters and prepared to fire.

“It can’t be,” Diana said in shock, “Not…”

“Yes,” said the girl insanely, “I am Kronos! In the flesh… so to speak.”

“That’s not possible!” Diana yelled in denial, “Kronos was trapped in Tartarus mind, soul, and body!”

“You can thank Cassie for my return,” said Kronos, “Actually, you can’t. After all, it is her body I’m using as my vessel.”

“Diana!” Batman said as he began to back away while eyes began to glow in the rocks, air, and fires, “We need to get out of here!”

“Shut up mortal!” Kronos snarled as he/she looked at Batman, “This is a family matter!”

Suddenly, Batman was no longer there. It was as if he had never been there. Even the memory of Batman being on Themyscira was fading. Soron grabbed Diana’s shoulder to acquire her attention. When she looked at him, he saw how angry and afraid she was.

“We need to make a tactical retreat,” Soron said reasonably, “We don’t have the power or skills to take on a time god.”

“But,” Diana said before she realized he was right. She then stared at Kronos with rage as she said, “This isn’t over.”

“You will NOT escape me!” Kronos yelled angrily and reversed time so that they had never left, “Nobody escapes Kronos the Lord of Time!”

“Tell us something we don't know,” said a voice to Kronos’ right. When Soron and Diana looked they saw a blonde woman wearing white standing there with a quarterstaff, “Legends. Get him… her… whatever it is!”

A man that wore blue and red armor flew at Kronos and released a powerful blast from his armors wrists, but the blasts was redirected at him. Another person in blue and red armor that happened to be pure metal leaped at Kronos. However, that was just as useless as shooting him/her. The elementals Kronos had summoned attacked the Legends and Soron while Kronos focused his/her attention on Diana.

“I am really ill prepared for this!” Soron yelled as he dodged an Earth elemental before blasting it with both blasters.

“Same here,” said the woman in white as she helped him up, “Who are you?”

“I’m Star Lord,” Soron said, “The only Guardian of the Galaxy in this universe.”

“Sara Lance,” the woman said with an amused tone, “My other title is the White Canary, but I never really need an alias these days.”

“Do you have any ideas?” Soron asked as he blasted a water elemental uselessly.

“Not really,” Sara replied as she blocked an attack from an Earth elemental.

“Burn!” shouted a voice to Soron’s left. When he looked he saw a laughing bald man that was wearing casual clothes and held a sidearm that was essentially a mini-flamethrower. His target was the water elemental which dissipated into steam.

“Well that works,” Soron remarked, “I’m glad he’s on our side.”

“That’s Mick Rory,” Sara said as she dodged an attack from an elemental, “he may be on our side today, but tomorrow may be a whole different matter.”

**With Diana…**

Diana tried to walk towards Kronos, but no matter what she did she found herself back where she started.

“It is pointless child,” Kronos sneered, “You have no chance of defeating me! I control time which makes me the victor!”

“What about with a little help from Booster Gold!?” yelled an unfamiliar voice from the sky. When everyone looked up they saw a person in gold armor with a hovering little gold robot flying towards them. Even Kronos was confused which allowed Booster Gold to deliver a strong blast of golden energy at him/her causing Kronos to fall on his/her ass.

“Who the hell are you?” Diana asked in confusion.

“Heroes of Themyscirian ruins!” the little robot announced, “Behold! Booster Gold! Traveling back through time from the year 2462 A.D. Booster Gold has come to battle today’s wrong doers, starting with Kronos naturally. Booster Gold! Protecting his past. Ensuring your future.”

“Just leave,” Diana said unimpressed as she walked towards Kronos who was still shocked that he/she was hit by a weak energy blast, “We’re busy here.”

“Nononononono no,” Booster Gold said, “You don’t have one of these fancy legion rings which protects one from the power of Kronos, so I’m your best bet of stopping him or her.”

Suddenly, something as small as a fly removed the ring from his finger and flew to Sara Lance.

“Wait what?” Booster Gold said in confusion when he realized that what was giving him his flight was no longer there. He then looked away from his hand and fell to the ground after he said, “Oh poopsticks.”

“You will perish for your insult mortal!” Kronos yelled as he/she blasted him with an aging power that began to disintegrate him.

While Kronos was distracted Diana delivered a powerful right hook which sent him/her flying through the ruins with Diana close behind.

**Meanwhile, with Soron and Sara…**

Suddenly, a man appeared in front of them with a gold ring in his right hand.

“Sara,” the man said, “This ring may help us defeat this… whatever he or she is.”

“I highly doubt it,” Sara said skeptically.

“How else would that Booster gold guy be able to knock Kronos on his ass?” the man reasoned.

“Okay,” Sara said, “If you can figure out a way all 6 of us can use such protection then do so Ray.”

“On it,” Ray said before shrinking down and flying off.

“There’s only four of you?” Soron asked as he blasted an Earth elemental’s arm off.

“We have a fifth,” Sara replied, “she’s currently ill with a Kryptonian disease.”

“Okay,” Soron said with a raised eyebrow before he used both blasters and fired one strong blast from each weapon causing the Earth elemental to explode. However, that only made more of them.

“I think I may have a plan,” Soron said as he and Sara ducked to avoid being attacked by a water and fire elemental at the same time. Their attacks caused them to cancel each other out.

“Pray tell,” Sara said.

“It’s not a full plan,” Soron said when they had some time to rest, “It’s 13 percent of a plan.”

“That’s not even a plan,” Sara exclaimed, “It’s barely a concept!”

“If you have a better one then please share!” Soron yelled as the wind picked up.

“Fine!” Sara said, “We’ll go with your plan!”

**With Diana…**

Diana stood over the prone form of Kronos near an altar with a ferocious glare aimed at him/her. However, unknown to her Kronos was smirking. Just as Diana kicked at him/her Kronos slowed time long enough to get out of the way and head to the altar. At the altar Kronos found a knife which he/she slid into his/ her belt before walking over to Diana and grabbing her rope. Kronos then picked her up and carried her to the altar. After Diana was shackled to the altar Kronos let time resume again.

“You didn’t actually think that you were beating me?” Kronos sneered as his/her form rippled and the damage done by Diana faded, “did you?”

“You bastard!” Diana yelled, “Let me free at once and fight me like a warrior!”

“Oh shut your whore mouth,” Kronos snapped as he/she seared her mouth shut with a red hot poker. Kronos then smiled in relief as he/she said, “There, that’s better.”

Diana widened her eyes in fear as Kronos pulled out the dagger and prepared to cut into her.

“Don’t fret child,” Kronos said, “This is a joyous occasion. Your blood shall free me from Tartarus and I will be able to send the world back to the Golden Years of the Titans’ rule over the Earth.”

“Get away from her!” yelled a voice just before Kronos was blasted back.

“Pest!” snarled Kronos as he/she fired a blast of time energy and got Soron right in the helmet causing him to fall down.

Kronos didn’t even spend time to gloat as he cut into Diana causing blood to flow. As the blood flowed into the pentagram etched into the ground a crack appeared in the air. The more blood that flowed, the wider the crack got.

“Yes!” Kronos roared in glee, “Soon my body and I shall be reunited!”

Unknown to Kronos, Soron slowly got up and hurried over to Diana as stealthily as possible.

“Just a little more,” Kronos urged as he/she began to get impatient.

Soron looked behind him and saw Sara and her team preparing to attack, and just as Kronos dragged his original body out of Tartarus with it being newly reformed Soron blasted the shackles off of Diana and carried her away. Kronos didn’t even noticed as he/she glowed, and a second later the girl he had possessed collapsed to the floor and become an infant again.

“Yes!” Kronos yelled in glee, “I have returned!”

Kronos now looked like a man that had black hair, a black goatee, wore a robe, and had eyes that looked like pure energy which swirled around and around. However, he was as thin as a skeleton which indicated he wasn’t at full strength yet. Suddenly, the Legends jumped out and attacked him with everything they got. Eventually, Sara kicked him back through the tear in reality. Unknown to them, this tear lead to an infinite number of possible locations instead of only Tartarus.

“Quick,” Sara said when she saw Diana’s condition, “Back to the Waverider! Gideon can heal her.”

**Later, in the Waverider…**

Diana slowly woke up and saw Soron next to her with his head resting on her breasts. She didn’t have the heart to wake him as this was the most peaceful he had ever looked. She looked around and saw that she was in a white room and had a bracelet device on her right wrist with a hose that connected to the wall.

“Welcome back to the world of the living Miss Prince,” said a female disembodied voice.

“Who are you?” Diana asked warily, “And where am I?”

“Apologies,” the voice replied, “I am Gideon and you are onboard the Waverider. This is a Timeship. We are currently returning back to the United States of America to drop both you and Mr. MacLeod off before going on our way.”

“MacLeod?” Diana asked in confusion.

“He didn’t tell you his real name?” Gideon asked, “Well he will at some point. Sooner, if you ask him about it.”

“Hey,” said Sara Lance from the doorway, “Oh he looks so cute all asleep on your boobs.”

“Who are you?” Diana quickly asked to change the subject.

“I’m the White Canary,” Sara replied, “Most people just call me Sara Lance though.”

“Any relation to the Black Canary?” Diana asked curiously.

“Yep,” Sara said, “I’m her sister.”

“I didn’t know she had a sister,” Diana said slightly surprised.

“That’s what happens when you drop off the grid to go protect time,” Sara said with a shrug before she added, “Your boyfriend there must really love you. He didn’t leave your side once while you were out.”

“He’s not… we’re not…” Diana stammered as she blushed.

“Well, take it from me,” Sara said, “Even if he doesn’t know it yet, he loves you to death.”

“How can he?” Diana asked in annoyance, “He lost his wife and daughter not that long ago. There’s no way he’s in love with me as those memories are still fresh.”

“That is definitely quite the cock-block,” Sara said before she frowned as she asked, “We have never heard of this man before today. He’s not an anachronism or an aberration. Otherwise we would’ve been drawn to him immediately. Where is he from and how did he get here?”

“It’s a long story,” Diana said, “it’s not mine to tell either.”

“I can respect that,” Sara said before she smirked and said, “If either of you are into polygamy just give me a call. I have to say that I think I’m already falling for the guy even though I know him less than you do.”

“I don’t mind polygamy,” Diana said, “but he might. Also, there is no reason to assume that we’ll get married at any time.”

“Okay then,” Sara said, “I was mainly joking anyway. I already have a girlfriend. Still, you should call us if you guys ever need any help.”

“We will,” Diana said with a smile before Sara left. She looked down on Soron and imagined herself getting married on Themyscira with Hippolyta as the reluctant Ordained minister. That made her smile a little bit before shaking her head free of those thoughts cause she knew it was not possible. They were just too different, and he still needed time to grieve. Also, men will always be forbidden on Themyscira.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there will be one more interim part before i do the "Initiation" episode. also, yes i am bringing some aspects and characters from the arrowverse into the story. i love the arrowverse. can't help it.


	6. Interim Part 3: Guardian Now and Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron becomes Star Lord again. Lex Luthor makes an appearance.

Interim Part 3: Guardian Now and Forever

 

When Soron woke up he was in a strange house. That forced him to jerk up and fall out of bed promptly banging himself on his head. In a daze he pulled himself back onto the bed and sat up before falling off of the bed again. This time his butt was stuck up in the air. The next second Diana walked in wearing a blue sweatshirt with a picture of a cat on it and black sweatpants that were loose at the the bottom of her legs. When she saw Soron she sighed before picking him up and checking to see if he hurt himself. While she checked for any signs of damage Soron woke up again and groaned.

“Where are we?” Soron asked when he saw Diana.

“We’re at my apartment in Chicago, Illinois,” Diana said kindly.

“Oh uh,” Soron said suddenly getting uncomfortable, “I probably should go.”

“You don’t need to be so embarrassed,” Diana chided, “I’m the one that brought you in here while you were still asleep.”

“Well, I need to get to the house Bruce found for me,” Soron said as he slowly sat up.

“Your house is actually not far from my apartment,” Diana said, “I think Bruce is trying to play matchmaker. Especially after that kiss we shared.”

“There’s literally nothing between us,” Soron said and stopped himself from adding _besides our clothes_.

“Men always assume stuff about these things,” Diana said, “So I’m not surprised he did as he did.”

“What am I wearing?” soron asked as he looked down at his suspiciously feminine clothing.

“I had some spare clothes lying around,” Diana said as she headed towards the room’s exit, “Your clothes stank. They’re currently being washed. Breakfast will be ready in a little bit.”

Soron soon headed to the dining area after preparing himself for the possibility of being seen in a woman’s clothes. When he arrived he saw Diana bent over at the oven as she went in to grab a casserole. His face went red when he saw how fine her rear end was, so he quickly looked away and kept his eyes closed till he arrived at the dining room table where he sat down. While he waited for the breakfast to arrive he tried desperately to get that image out of his brain.

“I don’t cook that often,” Diana admitted as she placed the casserole on the table with a hot pad underneath it, “I’m afraid that you’ll hate it.”

“Guess there’s only one way to find out,” Soron said but didn’t do anything as he didn’t have a bowl, plate, or anything else he could use to eat the breakfast.

He then raised an eyebrow at Diana before she realized she had forgotten about a few things. She quickly flew to the kitchen to acquire them then returned. As he ate the food, it was surprisingly delicious. Even better than, he hates to admit, his late wife’s casseroles.

“So how is it?” Diana asked nervously as she watched him eat.

“Delicious,” Soron said between mouthfuls which made her beam in happiness.

When he had finished eaten he leaned back and sighed in contentment. Diana quickly put the food away after packaging some of it for Soron to take to his new home.

“Let’s go see your new home,” Diana said which made Soron suddenly self-conscious.

“I’m going to wait till my clothes have been cleaned,” Soron said, “I don’t really have a desire to go wandering around in your clothing.”

“I suppose we can watch tv then,” Diana said as she walked over to the couch across from the tv and sat down, “Come sit next to me.”

Soron hesitantly did so, but when he did Diana accidentally leaned against him as she turned on the tv.

 _“This is Kathy Bates with WFLD and we’re standing in front of the First National Bank that has been newly built,”_ The news reporter said into a microphone, _“It is going to be the most secure bank known to man thanks to the kindness of Lex Luthor who has been gracious enough to do an interview live right here, right now.”_

“Luthor,” Diana spat angrily, “He is well-known for being a criminal and now he’s a philanthropist?”

“Bad blood between you two?” Soron asked.

“He’s tried to kill all of the Justice League more than once now,” Diana replied, “but his primary target is Superman.”

Soron didn’t even respond as he turned back to the news.

 _“I promise you Kathy,”_ Lex said into the microphone, _“My days of criminal activity are done. All that matters now is that I redeem myself by building technologies that can help people. Starting with people’s money of course.”_

Diana merely rolled her eyes at that.

 _“Why do you want to start with people’s money?”_ Kathy asked, _“There are several people out there that still see you as a criminal. How do you think they’ll react now that you have access to their money?”_

“Let’s see if you can worm your way out of this one Luthor,” Diana sneered.

 _“I won’t have access to their money,”_ Lex said as he spoke into the microphone, _“The money will only be accessed by the IRA and the people themselves.”_

 _“I for one am not a fan of the IRA,”_ Kathy said, _“so why do they have access?”_

 _“The government made it non-negotiable,”_ Lex said, _“It was the only way they would let me install the technology into the bank. I have to go now. I still have to go to a charity ball tonight.”_

Lex Luthor then headed off screen as Kathy returned to her report.

 _“There it is folks,”_ Kathy said, _“The new and improved Lex Luthor. Is he for real? Well, that’s a matter of opinion among the people. Back to -”_

Suddenly, something exploded and the bank began to crumble. Diana quickly got up and ran to her room where she had her suit. Soron too got up, and when Diana got down she hurried to a window. She now wore her wonder woman suit.

“Your clothes have been cleaned,” Diana said, “They’re up in my room. That is, if you’re coming.”

“I’m not staying here,” Soron said as he hurried up to Diana’s room while Diana opened the window and flew out.

As soon as he was clothed he hurried down the stairs activated his helmet before activating his jet boots and flew out of the window as well. When he arrived Diana was already holding a significant portion of the building up to keep it from crushing people inside of a hole that had opened up beneath them. However, she couldn’t do anything else. When he landed he began helping the terrified people out of the hole they fell in.

“That’s it,” Star Lord said as he helped person after person out of the hole, “get to safety. Go on.”

When the last person was out of the hole, Diana got out as fast as she could before it could fall on top of her.

“Good thing you came,” Diana said not realizing how weird she made it sound.

“I’d say so,” Soron said missing the accidental innuendo, “What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know,” Diana said as she looked around before she saw Luthor and balled her fists, “But I have an idea.”

“Who’s that?” Soron asked as he looked up towards a building which had someone on it. When he magnified his helmet’s image he saw that the guy had an RPG in his hand.

Before Diana could respond Soron flew up at him. The guy in question quickly took off running, but Soron was too fast for him while in flight. That allowed him to grab him from the air and fly him to a cop car.

“Here’s the guy responsible for the explosion,” Star Lord told the cops who just looked at him oddly. When he saw their expressions he joked, “Do I have something on my face?”

“No,” the cop said, “Who the heck are you?”

“I’m Star Lord,” Soron said, “I helped the Justice League fight off the Thanagarians? Ring any bells?”

“Excuse me sir,” said the familiar voice of Kathy Bates from WFLD, “did you say you helped the Justice League fight off the Thanagarians?”

“Yes I did Kathy,” Soron said, “It’s true. Just ask Wonder Woman… or don’t as she’s not in a great mood.”

“What do you call yourself?” Kathy asked, “and how do you know my name.”

“I saw you on the news,” Soron replied, “Also you can call me Star Lord.”

“Star Lord?” Kathy asked, “Why’d you name yourself that.”

“To honor the legacy of a deceased friend of mine,” Soron replied, “You wouldn’t know him though, and I’d honestly rather not talk about my life. It had gotten very sour prior to me meeting the Justice League.”

“Fair enough,” Kathy said, “Are you going to be Chicago’s hero or will you be like Wonder Woman and protect the entire world.”

“I don’t think I can stomach being a civilian more than I have lately,” Soron said, “so I think I’ll stick with being a hero. I’ll start small of course, and protect Chicago. If I get asked to join the Justice League at some point then I may do so. No promises though.”

“Do you have a message for the people of Chicago?” Kathy asked.

“I have several,” Soron said, “Um lets see. Oh I know. Don’t do drugs, smoking kills, If you have a murder fetish… go see a psychiatrist cause that’s just wrong. Especially if you’re a necrophiliac. Criminals of Chicago beware for Star Lord will take you down. In fact criminals just turn yourselves in. It’d be a lot less painful than coming in contact with me.”

“Looks like Chicago now has a hero folks,” Kathy said into her microphone while looking into the camera, “But is he up to the task? I guess we’ll soon find out.”

Unknown to her Soron had given Kathy bunny ears before spinning his finger around where his ear would normally be seen and pointing at her. That caused the cameraman to start snickering which made Kathy look at Soron who quickly stood in the superman pose while looking up at the sky.

“Up, up, and away!” Soron quickly said as he flew up into the air leaving behind Kathy Bates who had raised her right eyebrow. Soron quickly landed on a rooftop where Diana soon joined him.

“Are you trying to become a celebrity?” Diana asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Course not,” Soron said, “I’m just used to being interviewed by news reporters. Happened a lot back during my time in the Guardians.”

“Used to acting like an idiot too?” Diana asked in an amused tone.

“That… was… I don’t know why I did that,” Soron admitted hanging his head in mock shame.

“Now that everything is fine here let’s go get you to your new home,” Diana said as she flew back to her apartment to pick up the casserole she had packed up for him. Soron flew next to her the whole way.

**Later, at Soron’s new home…**

Soron and Diana hovered over the house Bruce gave Soron with surprise. The house looked just like Bruce’s mansion which was to be expected. There was a a gate at the beginning of the driveway and a fence that wrapped around 50 or so acres of land.

“Wow,” Diana said as she and Soron looked at the exterior, “Bruce gave you a mansion.”

“So I see,” Soron said unsure about if he wanted to stay here on his own.

“Please may I move in?” Diana suddenly blurted.

“Why?” Soron asked in confusion, “You have your own place?”

“Yeah but,” Diana said, “My apartment is small and you have a mansion. Besides, you don’t think you’ll be able to clean all this yourself without going insane do you?”

“Ah,” Soron said then nodded, “with that logic, how can I refuse?”

“I’ll move in tomorrow,” Diana said smiling on the inside. They then flew down to the main entrance, but before Soron could knock the door opened and a man that looked like Stan Lee albeit a bit younger opened the door.

“Hello sir and madam,” the man said, “I’m Stanley Hawkins and I’m your butler as well as advisor for your new job”

“Um,” Soron said, “I think we’re at the wrong house.”

“Nonsense,” Stanley said, “come right on in. My employer Mr. Wayne told me who you were Mr. MacLeod.”

“Well then,” Soron said as he deactivated his helmet, “I’m Soron MacLeod, and what do you mean by ‘new job?’”

“Didn’t Mr. Wayne tell you?” Stanley asked and when Soron just stood there with a blank expression on his face he said, “You’re the new CEO for Waynetech here in Chicago.”

“New one?” Soron asked, “What happened to the last one?”

“He was pushed out of the top floor window by an unhappy employee,” Stanley replied, “Now let’s go have that tour, shall we?”

“Why not?” Soron said as he and Diana followed Stanley.

When they finished the tour Stanley told them it was time for supper and to go ahead and get washed up while the food was being prepared. About forty minutes later they were sitting at the table as Stanley arrived at the table with a pizza.

“I made this pizza myself,” Stanley said, “My family have been in the pizza making business for generations, and we never let down a customer.”

“Okay?” Soron said as he took a slice and took a bite before putting it down on a plate. When he had swallowed it he looked at Stanley and said honestly, “Stanley. That was the BEST pizza I’ve ever had.”

“Excelsior!” Stanley said as he walked away pleased with Soron’s compliment.

“I can still move in right?” Diana asked.

“You kidding me?” Soron whispered at her, “I’m not going to stay in a strange house alone with an even stranger person. You’re going to stay the night, and I’ll help you with moving in tomorrow.”

“Good,” Diana said before going back to her pizza slice.

**Meanwhile, in the batcave…**

Bruce was going over the news footage of the First National Bank’s destruction since something didn’t sit right with him. He kept fast forwarding and rewinding it till he saw something. He quickly paused the footage then magnified on what he saw. He then did something else to make the image clear, but it was still blurry so he went through filters till he saw it. It was a transparent woman that had green skin dark hair with purple highlights and had a furious expression which was aimed right at Soron.

“Now that’s unnerving,” Bruce said to nobody in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that transparent thing was the spirit of Gamora. apparently, a piece of her might've followed Soron into the dc universe. yes I brought Stan Lee into this story, cause why not. I gave him the last name of Hawkins cause i could. no other reason for it. Next chapter will be Initiation. that'll be a time skip cause the watchtowers haven't been built yet.


	7. Episode 1: Initiation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron's first day in the league. Soron meets Captain Atom and Green Arrow(Arrow Season 3 suit post arrow/flash crossover).

Episode 1: Initiation

 

 _“Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga_   
_Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga_   
_Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga_ _  
_ Ooga-chaka, ooga-ooga”

Soron sat on a roof with his helmet activated as he listened to “Hooked on a feeling” by Blue Swede. As he did so he surveyed the surroundings just waiting for some crime to be committed.

 _“I can't stop this feeling_   
_Deep inside of me_   
_Girl, you just don't realize_ _  
_ What you do to me”

Suddenly, the sound of an alarm down the street went off. He quickly let himself drop off the roof and activated his jet boots which allowed him to quickly blast forwards towards the source of the alarm. As soon as he arrived he smashed through the window and rammed right into a criminal promptly knocking him into a wall. The grocery store was bigger than a gas station, but smaller than the usual grocery stores.

“Oh shit!” said another criminal when he saw Star Lord, “It’s him!”

Soron quickly pulled out his blaster and fired at the criminal hitting him in the face. The next second he heard a scream and he whirled around pulling out his other blaster. However, he wasn’t able to blast as the third and final criminal held a woman in front of him as a meat shield with a gun aimed at her head.

“Put the shooting things down,” the criminal snarled, “Or the bitch gets it!”

“Okay,” Star Lord said as he placed his blasters on the ground, “You’re in control here buddy.”

“That’s right,” the criminal sneered, “I’m in control. Now, you remove your fucking helmet.”

“I could,” Soron said as he saw Wonder Woman appear behind the criminal, “Or I can just let her take you out.”

“What?” the criminal said as he looked behind himself. Wonder Woman then bonked him on the head.

“You’ve gotten better working solo,” Diana said honestly, “But you work better in a team.”

“Okay,” Soron said confused, “What are you talking about?”

“Let’s get straight to the point,” Diana sighed, “Fly with me.”

**Later…**

They now sat on top of a rooftop where they could talk in peace. It looked like your usual rooftop. Soron no longer had his helmet activated.

“So you want me to join your boy band?” Soron asked as he munched on a donut.

“It’s not a boy band,” Diana said in amusement, “We’re expanding the League. You fit the bill.”

“Tempting,” Soron said between mouthfuls, “But I’m not the type to take orders. I give them.”

“It was your leadership that saved the world from Kronos,” Diana said as she looked Soron in the eyes, “You’ve more than proved yourself for a leadership status in my eyes. However, you have to convince the others of that.”

“How long would that take?” Soron asked.

“I don’t know,” Diana said, “As long as it takes?”

“Hmpf,” Soron grunted as he ate more of his donut before he sighed, “I’ll join it, but only as a test run to see if its for me.”

“Fair enough,” Diana said before she pressed her ear and said, “We’re ready.”

Suddenly, a white light surrounded them and the next second later the spot they had been sitting was empty.

**At the Justice League’s new and improved Watchtower…**

The light of the teleporter faded, and Soron found himself sitting next to Diana in a huge room. It looked like it could hold a hundred people, which isn’t that amazing as there are some less hightech buildings that can hold more people.

“Welcome to the watchtower,” said Superman as he touched down next to Soron and Diana.

“Yeah,” Soron said as he stood up, “don’t get your hopes up. I’m only here as a trial run. If I don’t like it, I’m vamoosing out of here.”

“That’s understandable,” Superman said before he flew over to J’onn, “See you later.”

“Glad to have you with us,” said John Stewart as he walked up wearing his newly reforged ring.

“Thanks I guess,” Soron shrugged before he noticed Green Lantern’s goatee and moustache, “Uh. You have something on your face. Did a Endoruskian bite you? Those things are very deadly.”

“It’s called facial hair smartass,” Green Lantern said as he rolled his eyes, “Go join the others. I’m on my way to get another recruit.”

“See ya around chuckles,” Soron said causing Green Lantern to roll his eyes again.

“I have business to attend,” Diana said, “So you go socialize and please don’t act too much like an idiot while doing so.”

Soron waved her goodbye when he saw a table with food on it and immediately flew over to it. He grabbed a plate and began getting as much snacks as he could fit onto it without overfilling it. As he did so, someone walked up to him.

“You’re that Star Lord guy,” said the voice. When Soron turned around he saw a man wearing what looked like a cowboy outfit. The top was blue while the pants were white. On his face lay a red bandana hiding his mouth and on his head was a white cowboy hat. Strapped to his thighs were two hightech revolvers.

“Yeah,” Soron said, “That’s me. Who are you supposed to be? John Wayne?”

“Funny,” the cowboy snorted before holding out his right hand, “No, but I have seen a lot of his movies during my childhood. I’m Vigilante”

“Isn’t that a bit redundant?” Soron asked as he shook Vigilante’s hand, “You’re Vigilante and you happen to be a vigilante?”

“Name just sounded good, is all,” shrugged Vigilante.

“To each their own I guess,” Soron shrugged in return.

“Well been a pleasure meeting ya,” Vigilante said as he tipped his hat, “But there’s an angelica that I’m anxious to talk to.”

“Angelica?” Soron asked, “A girl named angelica?”

“It’s old west slang for unmarried woman,” Vigilante explained before he walked off through the crowd.

Soron just shrugged as he made is way to a chair nearby where he could eat his snacks in peace.

“I’m surprised you actually came,” said a voice from behind Soron.

When Soron looked he saw Batman walk out of the shadows, which he does a lot.

“Just trying it out,” Soron said before munching on a cinnamon roll.

“The food or the League?” Batman asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Both actually,” Soron said between mouthfuls, “The only stuff I have actually eaten that wasn’t made by my late wife Gamora and Stanley Hawkins, was macaroni and cheese pizza at a place called Angelo’s. Very delicious mind you, but I’ve never been able to have it again.”

Batman just walked away since he had nothing to say concerning Soron’s reply, but Soron wasn’t offended as Batman usually does this anyway.

When Soron was done he began wandering through the crowd in order to see who all had come up to the watchtower. He widened his eyes when he saw a familiar red and blue armored person talking to a man that looked to be pure silver with some red gloves and boots and an atom symbol on his chest.

“So how long have you been in the hero biz?” asked the red and blue armored one.

“I was in the military before becoming a superhero,” the silver man said, “So, since I was in my twenties.”

“Good on you,” the blue and red armored one said cheerfully.

“Ray?” Soron said surprised causing Ray Palmer to turn around.

“Star Lord!” Ray said cheerfully as he held his hand up, “Nice to see you again. I knew the League would enlist you. It was just too obvious.”

“Why aren’t you with the Legends?” Soron asked in confusion.

“Oh,” Ray said as his smile faded, “I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?” Soron asked.

“The Legends are no more,” Ray said in disappointment.

“What?!” Soron said in shock, “But who’s going to be protecting time and all that?”

“Nobody,” Ray said, “it doesn’t need to be protected now. Sara became a mercenary and married her girlfriend, Nate returned to his job as an archaeologist, Mick is a criminal again, and I’m back to being a scientist at Palmer Tech. Of course, I stuck with the hero gig.”

“We’re too peas in a pod,” Soron said, “I was in a team as well, but now I’m the only one of them that is still hero-ing. I think so anyway. We protected the galaxy so I have no way of knowing what they’re up to nowadays.”

“What did you call your team?” Ray asked curiously.

“We were the Guardians of the Galaxy,” Soron said proudly.

“Cool,” Ray said.

Further conversation was halted when Superman called for everyone’s attention. He stood on a higher level of the room, alongside Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and Flash. When everyone was quiet he began to speak.

“Each of you brings something different to the table,” Superman said to the assembly, “strength, speed, stealth, whatever.”

“But we’re all equal in at least one way. Each of us is willing to make the sacrifices a hero needs to make,” Superman continued looking specifically at Soron, “Even the ultimate one.”

 _I wish he wouldn’t have mentioned that,_ Soron thought as he remembered the day he nearly died to stop the Thanagarians.

“Since there are so many of us, we can do more than just put out fires, both literal and figurative. We can be proactive; we can do some real good in the world, but we’re going to have to be organized,” Superman concluded as he pointed upwards towards J’onn prompting others to look up and see the Martian, “J’onn will be up here, keeping an eye on everything; he’ll be the one to decide who’s going where and when. I know a lot of you are used to making those decisions by yourself, but from now on, we have to be more coordinated than that. We can’t be cowboys anymore.”

Soron heard an audible grunt of irritation which originated at Vigilante; he clearly hated the cowboy remark.

“”Or cowgirls,” Superman added smiling causing a small chuckle to be heard from the crowd.

Out of the corner of his eye, Soron saw Batman walk up to an emerald archer that wore the outfit from arrow season 3 post flash/arrow crossover.

“We sent the Lantern for you because you never gave us an answer,” Batman said.

“Come on, I don’t belong up here,” the archer glowered, “fighting monsters and aliens and supervillains. I just help the little guy, and in a big club like this? You tend to forget all about him.”

Soron could understand his feelings as he shared some of them before becoming a Guardian, but now he felt that one had to at least try. He knew not everyone could be saved, but if you only saved one a day? Then that would be enough till you feel more sure about yourself.

“So, gee whiz,” the archer continued, “I’m flattered and all to be asked, but no thanks.”

Batman narrowed his eyes at the archer’s speech then turned away to walk off.

“Suit yourself,” Batman said before he stopped and looked over his shoulder, “Those monsters you don’t fight? They tend to step on little guys.”

Batman then left the archer alone with his thoughts.

**With J’onn…**

J’onn was showing Green Lantern one of the computer screens with his usual grim expression.

“It’s some sort of nuclear accident,” J’onn said, “The sensors are showing a massive release of heat.”

“I’ll get down there and try to contain it,” Lantern said as he turned to leave.

“That’s the odd thing,” J’onn said stopping GL in his tracks, “it’s not dissipating. It’s moving in a straight line.”

J’onn then looked through the roster of the Justice League members till he found the right person for the job.

“Take Captain Atom,” J’onn advised, “he might be able to absorb the radiation.”

“Right,” Lantern agreed, “and I could use some muscle for crowd control.”

“Take Supergirl,” J’onn said then raised his eyebrow at GL’s unhappy expression, “She’s got to start sometime.”

“Fine,” Lantern grunted, “But if I’m going to be taking two new members, I’m taking someone with experience, too.”

“Who did you have in mind?” J’onn asked.

“Star Lord,” Lantern sighed, “At least he has had tons of experience working in a team, and if shit hits the fan he’ll be one of the first ones to come up with a plan… even if it’s horrible.”

J’onn nodded as GL flew up into the air and said, “Use a Javelin; the radiation’s making it impossible for the transporter to get a fix on the location.”

“Captain Atom!” Lantern barked, “Kara! Star Lord!”

“ ‘Bout time,” Supergirl smirked before flying up to Lantern.

“I have upgraded my suit,” Ray said to Soron who didn’t hear Lantern bark out his name.

“It doesn’t look like it,” Soron said with a raised eyebrow.

“Not in looks,” Ray said, “In abilities. I can now grow into a giant. I also added radiation shielding, but that was during the Time the Legends were still active.”

“Star Lord,” said a voice right behind Soron making him jump. He slowly turned around and saw Green Lantern glaring at him. He gulped nervously at that.

“Oh hey John,” Soron said, “How’s it… uh… floating?”

“I called your name,” Lantern growled.

“You did?” Soron asked in confusion, “I didn’t hear you. I think my ears may have flooded with ear wax again.”

“Hmpf,” Lantern grunted, “We’re heading to the Javelin for a mission, and that includes you.”

“Okay I’m coming,” Soron said.

“Oh wait,” Ray said as he handed a box to Soron, “That has it so you won’t have to worry about your ears flooding with earwax.”

“Thanks,” Soron said as he looked at it, “How do I use it?”

“You take the pill that’s inside,” Ray said before walking off.

“Right,” Soron muttered as he opened the box and took the pill while he followed GL to the Javelin. He didn't actually need it, but he figured he may as well prevent what could happen. Captain Atom and Supergirl soon joined them.

“Any of you ever been to Chong Mai?” Lantern asked as he led them to the Javelin bay.

“It’s on the State Department’s ‘no travel’ list,” replied Captain Atom, “It’s a Class Three Felony for American citizens to go there.”

“No,” Soron said simply, “I haven’t even heard of it before now. Sounds more like an Asian food to me.”

“Is it anywhere near Daytona Beach?” Supergirl asked knowing she’ll annoy GL.

As the heroes walked to the elevator, Star Lord got a good view of the Javelin Bay. He’d never seen the League’s original Javelin-7 ship, but from what he’d heard from the civilian crew that operated the Watchtower’s day-to-day functions, the new Javelins were faster, tougher, and better armed. On the way to their Javelin, Star Lord noticed the archer guy from before run up to them.

“You’re not going to leave me on Mt. Olympus?” the archer asked.

“You can go back the way you came,” Lantern said angrily.

“Uh, no,” the archer stated matter-of-factly, “no one’s playing pinball with my molecules again.”

“Alright,” Lantern said rolling his eyes, “we’ll drop you off AFTER we’re done.”

“So what are you called?” Soron asked the archer as they made their way to the Javelin.

“The Arrow,” the archer said.

“You sure you’re not Robin Hood?” Soron teased.

“You have no idea how much I hear that,” Arrow sighed.

**In the Javelin…**

As they sat down in their seats with Lantern getting into the pilot’s seat, much to Soron’s chagrin, Supergirl walked up behind him.

“So, you’re gonna let me drive, right?” Supergirl asked.

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Captain Atom said with a worried expression on his face, “Has she been certified in a Javelin?”

Supergirl sat down and glared at him, “Why don’t you take the stick out Corporal?”

“It’s Captain,” Captain Atom said stiffly. Soron and The Arrow both gave Supergirl a thumbs up at the same time.

“Actually,” Soron said now that the thought occurred to him, “Why aren’t I driving? I have flown alien ships since I was a kid! This man-made primitive ship should be a walk in the park!”

“Seriously?” Arrow asked, “You flown alien ships since you were a kid?”

“More or less,” Soron said in annoyance, “I even helped J’onn learn the controls of a Thanagarian starfighter for Christ’s sake!”

“Wait,” The Arrow said as everyone excluding GL turned to look at him as the Javelin took off, “You fought against the Thanagarians alongside the Justice League?”

“Uh yeah,” Soron said nervously as the attention centered on him.

“How is it I never heard of you doing that?” Arrow asked in skepticism.

“It’s not as if the news people ever saw me,” Soron said, “all you humans learn is what you see on the tv.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Arrow agreed before he leaned towards’ Captain Atom and asked, “Is that a containment suit?”

“Uh-huh,” Captain Atom replied, “I’m not flesh and bone anymore; just living energy.”

“That wouldn’t be nuclear energy?” Arrow asked as he frowned while leaning back, “would it?”

“With a name like Captain Atom,” Captain Atom said as he glanced at The Arrow with narrowed eyes, “what do you think?

“I think you’re what I marched against back in college,” Arrow snarked while crossing his arms.

“Wait…” Soron said as the conversation reached his brain, “nuclear energy? Hold on a minute…”

Soron then unbuckled himself from his seat and walked over to GL.

“We’re going to investigate something concerning nuclear radiation, aren’t we?” Soron asked with a frown.

“Why else did you think I brought Captain Atom with us?” GL said.

“In that case, why didn’t we bring the Atom?” Soron asked.

“He shrinks,” GL scoffed, “He has no use concerning radiation.”

“He has radiation shielding!” Soron nearly shouted.

“What?” Lantern asked shocked, “But that’s… what?”

“He added it during his time with the legends,” Soron sighed.

“Shit,” Lantern muttered, “I wish I had known that.”

“One more thing,” Soron said before breathing deeply and asked, “Why the hell did you bring me? I’m useless in dealing with radiation.”

“I brought you because of your experience in working as a team,” Lantern responded as they neared the landing spot, “Also, you have a history in improvising when the shit hits the fan. Another thing is, your shitty plans always do have a tendency to be successful.”

“Well okay,” Soron allowed, “I’ll just sit back with Hawkeye over there while you and your superpowered trio do all the work.”

Soron then walked back to his seat and sat down.

“Did you just call me Hawkeye?” Arrow asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” Soron replied.

“I am called The Arrow,” Arrow said in annoyance, “Get it right.”

“Sure thing,” Soron said, “unless I confuse you with another Archer I know again.”

**Later on the Chong Mai countryside…**

Supergirl, Star Lord, and Captain Atom strode out of the Javelin but stopped when they saw several miles of scorched terrain. It looked like someone had focused a nuclear bomb in a straight line through the area.

“Looks like we missed the party,” Supergirl remarked.

“If you mean whatever caused that gouge?” Soron said, “Yeah. However, I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”

“Did you really just quote Star Wars?” Supergirl asked.

“What’s Star Wars?” Soron asked in confusion.

“You’ve seriously never seen Star Wars?” Supergirl asked.

“Enough chit chat people,” GL said interrupting any further conversation, “We’ll do some recon. If you see something, do NOT engage.”

“Roger that,” Captain Atom said before he began to walk off.

Soron blinked at how soldier-esque Captain Atom was as a response while GL just had a slightly surprised expression.

“Uh,” Lantern said stopping him, “You can just say okay.”

“Okay,” Captain Atom said after a few seconds of silence before walking off. Supergirl rolled her eyes before she and Star Lord followed suit. The Arrow watched them leave from one of the Javelin ramp’s suspenders as he began to drink some water from a bottle he took as he left the ship. As he lowered the bottle, he noticed a dozen armed men, several of whom were aiming RPGs at the heroes.

“Get down!” Arrow yelled quickly. Soron quickly tackled Supergirl to the ground just in time for the first rocket to fly past them and hit the ground somewhere to their rear. GL quickly put up an energy barrier from his ring before any more rockets could be fired and the other soldiers began peppering them with bullets.

“Rockets wouldn’t have hurt me ya know,” Supergirl said in amusement.

“Sorry,” Soron said as he stood up, “you just remind me of my cousin back on Xandar Prime prior to its destruction at the hands of Thanos.”

“Thanos was the guy that…” Supergirl trailed off with all pretenses of humor gone.

“Killed my wife and child?” Soron finished, “Yeah. That’s the one.”

Soron and Supergirl looked at the green energy shield and saw that the projectiles weren’t having any effect on it fortunately.

“State Department sure was right about them not liking foreigners,” Captain Atom remarked.

“It’s crazy!” Lantern snapped angrily, “No reason for it!”

“I’ll give them a reason,” Supergirl said angrily before Soron put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her.

“They’re not worth it,” Soron said, “Unless you want to be arrested and banned from the League.”

“He’s right,” Lantern said, “We came here to help them, not hurt them!”

“So you’re just gonna stand there until they run out of RPGs?” Arrow asked as he ran up to them, “If this radiation thing is as bad as it looks, there’s a lot of people that are gonna get fried.”

“He has a point,” Soron said shrugging before he activated his helmet as he said, “I got this.”

He quickly flew up into the sky and began throwing magnetic clamps that he had Batman build for him a few months ago. Just like his original ones from his former universe these pulled the weapons out of their attackers’ hands.

“Now then,” Star Lord said as he crossed his arms while floating in the air, “Are we going to play nice, or am I gonna have to starting blasting some folks?”

Just then the sound of a helicopter could be heard as it arrived catching Star Lord’s attention who then flew back to the group. As soon as he did so he landed and pulled out his blasters while GL aimed his ring, Supergirl balled her fists, The Arrow knocked an arrow into his bow, and Captain Atom summoned blue nuclear energy in his hands which covered them entirely. When the doors opened after it landed they tensed, but relaxed when they saw that the soldiers accompanying the aging General didn’t appear hostile.

“My apologies for the fireworks,” the General said in an untrustworthy voice, “Colonel Kim here was just a farmer before the revolution; he doesn’t know who you are.”

He then smiled at them but Star Lord knew it was a ruse, an obviously false ruse at that.

“I’m General Kwan,” the General said, “I am most flattered that the Justice League has honored us with its presence, but I must ask why.”

“You had some kind of nuclear accident,” Lantern said as he stepped forward.

“A minor problem,” General Kwan lied, “It is fully under control.”

“If it’s all the same to you…” Lantern began before he was interrupted.

“It’s all fully under control,”  General Kwan said no longer smiling and had a dangerous glint in his eyes, “If it’s all the same to you.”

“Listen,” Supergirl said, “We came a long way to help…”

“Your help is not needed here,” General Kwan said stubbornly, “thank you for coming, now goodbye.”

General Kwan then made a brisk about-face and strode off leaving the heroes suspicious of him.

“I have a feeling that the chances of him having been honest with us are the same as Drax understanding metaphors,” Soron remarked confusing the others.

“Drax is a former team member of mine,” Soron explained when they looked at him, “His species are metaphorically challenged.”

“I do believe you may be right,” Lantern said as he glared at the retreating helicopter.

**Later, somewhere in a forest…**

The heroes went back into the Javelin as the sun began to set, and the Arrow went into the back and fumed. Supergirl was doing her best not to break anything and Captain Atom was sitting calmly in a chair. Star Lord, now with his helmet deactivated, also sat in a chair but he began fiddling with one of his blasters absentmindedly. GL was speaking to J’onn on the communication screen.

“I’m telling you J’onn,” Lantern said angrily, “it took all the restraint I had not to part that guy’s hair with my ring.”

“You did the right thing,” J’onn said giving GL a serious expression, “but the problem is not getting under control; it’s getting worse.”

“Don’t you get it,” Arrow said as he walked up catching GL’s attention, “They don’t want anyone to find out about the accident; and they don’t care how many of their own people they have to lose to keep it quiet.”

“This isn’t your concern!” Lantern snapped making Arrow wander off grumbling before he returned his attention to the screen, “He does have a point. Maybe the four of us should go back and…”

“No!” J’onn interrupted sternly, “We can’t just do whatever we want; when we formed the League, we agreed with the world’s governments that we’d have to respect each government’s wishes.”

He then sighed, “No matter what we may think of their policies.”

GL was about to reply when Supergirl rushed in, “Green Lantern! Arrow and Star Lord are gone!”

“And so is the Geiger counter,” added Captain Atom. That made Green Lantern angry.

**With Soron and Arrow…**

Star Lord and The Arrow moved as fast and stealthily as they could through the forest as they followed the Geiger counter’s directions. Eventually, they reached a point where the Geiger counter began to click a little faster so they looked to the right and headed that way. When they got there they saw a caravan of military vehicles escorting civilians to safety which was on the other side of a long wooden bridge. Suddenly, the Geiger counter clicked rapidly and they looked to their left. They were about to move when they heard a truck running out of control towards the bridge. The truck’s driver did his best to remain straight, but eventually the truck crashed through the wooden support beams and railings sideways till it stopped with half of it on the bridge, and the other half off. The truck creaked as it swung up and down indicating it was nearly ready to fall down the chasm.

The Arrow slid down the slope as he pulled out his bow and knocked it then fired a zip line arrow towards a wooden support beam then another one. The arrows proceeded to embed themselves in the beam as the truck swung down and fell into the ziplines. While that was happening Soron had already activated his helmet and flown over to the truck where he opened the door and pulled the man out. Just as he set him on the bridge the truck snapped through the zipline cords and fell down the pit exploding at the very bottom.

“I told you to stay away!” shouted General Kwan angrily at Star Lord as he walked up while The Arrow swung over.

“I’m just trying to help!” Star Lord said angrily.

“I told you before!” General Kwan said equally as angrily, “The situation is completely under con-”

He stopped speaking as the sounds of extremely large footsteps could be felt nearing them. Star Lord and the Arrow looked towards it. What they saw made their eyes open wide and their jaws drop. It was a gigantic robot with a flaming head that was colored black with two shades of red as well. The robot aimed an arm which didn’t have a hand at all, and instead had a gun barrel. It then charged up its arm-gun forcing General Kwan to begin backing up alongside his soldiers who were full on sprinting. The robot blasted into the ground and then began moving its arm carving into the landscape. When it reached the bridge Star Lord tackled the General down out of the way while The Arrow leaped forward to avoid the attack.

When the robot turned around and walked away, Star Lord flew over to the other side of the bridge and joined The Arrow in chasing it down. When they got close, it was being shot by tanks that somehow were quickly backing away in order to stay ahead of it. The tanks did all they could to slow it down in order to keep the civilians safe. However, the tanks weren’t being all that effective. The robot merely aimed its arm and began charging which allowed the drivers of the tanks to get in one or two more shots before they had to run from their tanks as the robot’s laser destroyed it and the robot stepped down on where it was. The civilians had reached the edge of a cliff but couldn’t go any further. They began to panic as the robot charged up its arm again, however the robot stopped when two things exploded on it.

It looked towards where the attack had come from, and saw The Arrow aiming his bow just before shooting an explosive arrow at it. After another two arrows exploded on its metal shell, it began to walk forward towards him. The Arrow just shot grenade arrow after grenade arrow, before shooting multiple at once. Unfortunately, they were only annoying the robot which then raised its arm up and charged up a blast. Soron quickly fired his blasters at it, which didn’t harm it at all seeing as his blasters shot lasers which were heat incarnate. The robot was literally a heat generator, so if anything the blasts were making it stronger. The Arrow quickly began to run away in order to escape the blast radius, but he was too slow. The laser would’ve gotten him, if GL hadn’t shown up in the nick of time and picked him up and out of the way. The robot kept blasting at The Arrow, but the blasts were too slow as GL kept dodging the blasts.

“There’s some people on that cliff!” Arrow said as he pointed towards the cliff where some civilians and soldiers had been cornered. The only thing preventing them from running even further away was a gigantic crevasse.

“I’ll try to drain it!” Captain Atom said as he flew up to it with Supergirl right behind him.

Soron watched helplessly as GL created a green energy landscape for the civilians to go across the bridge and Captain Atom began to absorb the radiation while Supergirl punched as she flew around it. As the people ran across the willpower construct Captain Atom was straining as he pulled more and more energy into himself. Captain Atom seemed to be winning as the robot fell to its knee due to more energy being drained than generated. However, it must have been too much as the nuclear energy around him became orange. When it went into him an explosion occurred a second later sending him to the ground below. Supergirl flew down to check on him, but when she saw he was unconscious  she glared at the robot before flying at it and punching it not once, but several times knocking its head backwards. As the robot stumbled away Supergirl became visibly exhausted before she flew towards it again. The robot swung at her and missed, but when it backhanded her she went flying off towards a cliff face. She then got back up and flew to help the people get across the bridge faster and picked up a truck to get it to the other side.

In a few colossal steps, the robot was upon them. It was now a race to see what would happen first; whether the innocent people would get to safety, or the robot would vaporize them all. The robot pointed its canon at GL, and GL was quick enough to put a shield bubble around himself. However, his shield wasn’t enough so it cracked and he was sent falling down to the ground covered in radiation burns and his tattered suit.

“Lantern!” yelled Star Lord as he flew quickly towards him intent on catching him. However, he wasn’t fast enough and GL hit the ground. He reached GL just as the Arrow did and they knelt by him. The Arrow pressed his hand lightly onto GL, but when GL didn’t respond he pulled out his bow and arrow then aimed it at the robot angrily.

“Stop,” Star Lord said sternly, “you would only irritate it and get more of us injured or worse.”

“How would you know?!” Arrow snapped angrily.

“Back in my universe I did the same thing,” Soron replied grimly, “I got my whole platoon destroyed except for me. I was dishonorably discharged from the Nova Corp for that.”

**Later, at the Javelin…**

Green Lantern was now laying inside of a hospital gurney that had been built into the Javelin.

“This wouldn’t have happened if the both of you had acted like you were part of a team!” Captain Atom said angrily.

“But I’m not, remember,” Arrow replied as he turned away from the unconscious GL, “So back off, nuke boy!”

“That may be true!” Soron yelled in return with his helmet deactivated, “But since the mission was over in J’onn’s mind seeing as he was afraid of causing an international incident the team was effectively over anyway!”

“Are you telling me you don’t care if you start an international incident?” Captain Atom asked incredulously.

“Not if it means some people can be saved!” Soron replied, “I used to believe as you do. Follow all orders to the letter, and respect other government’s wishes. However, I learned the hard way that, sometimes doing so is an even worse decision!”

“Hey!” Supergirl yelled as she put herself in between the three other heroes, “We’ve got a giant out of control robot out there! But, if you guys are too busy playing alpha-male smackdown, I guess I’ll have take care of it myself!”

“You’re right,” Soron sighed as he calmed down, “I was just so angry that I had almost lost another friend and teammate.”

“Same here,” Captain Atom said calming down as well while holding out his hand, “Truce?”

“Truce,” Star Lord agreed.

“Shayera!” GL suddenly blurted out catching their attention.

“You need a plan,” Lantern said as he looked at each of them but lingered on Soron much longer than the rest, “You need to find its weakness.”

“Those hazmat guys in the village,” Arrow said, “They should know something.”

“Thought you weren’t on the team,” Captain Atom said to The Arrow.

“Take him when you go,” Lantern said as he fell unconscious, “You’ll need all the help you can get. Also, don’t fuck it up again Star Lord.”

“Okay,” Captain Atom said, “But I’ll be too busy to cover your sorry ass.”

“Wouldn’t ask you to,” Arrow replied.

**Later…**

The village was smoking as the fires began to shrink out, but the village was in worse ruins than Themyscira was during the Kronos crisis and radiation was everywhere.

“What are we up against?” Star Lord asked now with his helmet activated as the four remaining heroes arrived on the scene. The closest person to them was in a hazmat suit.

“He asked you a question,” Supergirl said.

“Don’t answer them!” ordered a soldier, “That’s classified inform-ah!”

Suddenly, Supergirl grabbed him by the vest and hoisted him up into the air.

“I’ve just about had it with you guys!” Supergirl said angrily, “You’ve got to the count of five. 1…”

“4,” said Supergirl as her eyes began to glow red due to her heat vision priming up.

“If you don’t want to become a human roast turkey I suggest you tell us,” Star Lord smirked.

“It was supposed to be our protector,” explained the man in the hazmat. Supergirl promptly let him fall to the ground.

“It was going to protect us from the foreigners,” the hazmat man continued as he removed his headgear.

“I’ll try not to be insulted,” Star Lord remarked before he guessed, “You lost control of it, didn’t you.”

“We have carbon rod dampeners,” the man said as he looked to a truck full of boxes and some people nearby it, “But we couldn’t get close enough to put them in.”

“Where’s its reactor?” Captain Atom asked.

“The front of the upper torso,” the man replied, “but it’s too hot; you won’t make it.”

“Who needs to get close if you have a good aim,” Star Lord asked as he and the other two looked towards The Arrow.

“What?” Arrow asked in confusion before he realized what Star Lord’s plan was and added, “son of a bitch.”

**Later, in the air…**

All four were now in the air. Supergirl was carrying The Arrow, while Captain Atom had several carbon rods in his arms. Soron on the other hand was just carrying a plan in his head.

“So what’s your plan exactly?” Arrow asked.

“Supergirl and Captain Atom will keep the robot busy long enough while you prepare enough carbon rod arrows to be sure you get at least one into its reactor,” Star Lord replied..

“How am I supposed to do that if the thing is moving?” Arrow asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Simple,” Star Lord replied, “After you’re ready to fire the carbon arrows, Supergirl will push on it and I’ll use some of my magnetic clamps to draw it towards them. Seeing as how big the robot is, it won’t fall down but it’ll be using a lot of its power to push against supergirl and get away from the magnetic energy being emitted by the clamps. In other words it’ll become a flaming ugly Statue of Liberty.”

“Why didn’t you use that kind of tactical thinking earlier?” Captain Atom asked.

“Have to know what we’re facing beforehand to make a plan, correct?” Star Lord asked which Captain Atom couldn’t help but agree with even if he didn’t like it.

They then touched down on the ground and Supergirl let The Arrow down while Captain Atom did the same for the carbon rods. They watched as the robot made its destructive steps to wherever it felt it had to go.

“Captain,” Star Lord said, “Don’t get too close. The heat will fry you if you do. Just act like a fly and buzz around it to distract it.”

“Okay,” Captain Atom said, “If I do fry… tell the League what happened. They’ll know what to do next.”

“Will do,” Star Lord said before he, Captain Atom, and Supergirl flew off towards the robot.

Supergirl punched it as soon as she got there, Captain Atom just flew every which way and that, and Soron just hovered there as he waited for The Arrow to be ready. Captain Atom was unfortunately too slow as the robot swatted him down to the ground like a fly then fired a blast of radioactive energy from its face combined a blast of energy from its cannon-arm.

“No!” Star Lord said as he flew a step closer.

Captain Atom slowly pulled himself out of the crater, but as soon as he did so his suit cracked on his chest so he quickly flew up into the sky to keep himself from exploding outward and essentially bringing about another Nagasaki where the forests are concerned. He exploded as soon as he reached the vacuum of space. Supergirl’s anger took control and she swooped down towards the robot with the intent to pummel it, but she was swatted away by the robot.

“I’m ready!” Arrow called out to Star Lord.

“Change of plan!” Star Lord yelled as he flew back to The Arrow.

“Really?!” Arrow said when Soron reached him, “What is it now? Run away, cause I’m not doing that.”

“Perish the thought,” Soron said as he picked him up, “How good is your aim while in the air and on the move?”

“I guess we’re about to find out,” Arrow muttered as he knocked his bow with a carbon arrow.

Star Lord then flew them into the air and towards the robot. The Robot watched them every step of the way. It fired a blast at them which Star Lord dodged, and kept doing so till they got close and hovered as The Arrow aimed at the reactor, but the robot was quick and swatted them to the ground as it stepped towards them.

“Say ‘ah’ dirtbag,” Arrow said before he fired the arrow right into the reactor as he fell.

The flames on its head extinguished allowing smoke to waft up from its head at the same time its arms did the same then Supergirl came flying in and punched the metal skull off of the robotic body and sent it flying to a mile behind it. The body then fell to its knees and then all the way down onto its front.

**Back at the Watchtower…**

Supergirl was standing outside of a medical room where Captain Atom was getting repaired. A new containment suit was being filled by the energy form of Captain Atom himself.

“You sure he’s gonna be okay?” Supergirl asked with concern as she stared at the suit from outside of the room through the viewing glass.

“He should be,” GL replied from his wheelchair now in a new suit and with bandages on his face, “J’onn’s team picked him up soon after it happened. So, he didn’t lose much of his energy.”

The suit then lifted a red thumb up which made Supergirl and GL smile in relief. Supergirl returned the thumbs up before she said, “At least he got a new suit out of it.”

“So,” Supergirl continued as she looked at GL, “Aren’t you going to give me the ‘you did good’ speech?”

“You’re headstrong,” GL said no longer smiling making Supergirl feel unhappy, “Unprofessional, and reckless. If you ever jeopardize yourself and your teammates again by running off half-cocked without a battle plan I will personally see to it that you’re kicked off the league. I don’t care who your cousin is.”

He then rolled away in his mechanized wheelchair as Supergirl crossed her arms in sadness but stopped and looked over his shoulder as he added, “and incidentally you did good.”

Supergirl looked back at him who continued his way down the hallway before she smiled happily.

**With Soron…**

Soron slowly woke up and found himself in the medical wing of the Watchtower and saw GL roll into the room.

“How’s it rolling?” snickered Soron as he was still juiced up on the chemicals the medical staff gave him.

“I’ll just consider that as an effect of the morphine,” GL said narrowing his eyes before he just stared at him silently.

“Speak up man,” Soron said, “you’re giving me the heebie-jeebies.”

He then burst out into a fit of snickering making GL massage his forehead with one hand before Soron sobered up.

“This whole mission was clearly a test,” Soron said with a moment of prolonged soberness, “so did I fail?”

“Why did you run off to go try to help them even though it could’ve resulted in an international disaster?” J’onn asked.

“As I told Captain Atom,” Soron said, “I learned the hard way that following orders to the letter and respecting a government’s wishes even if they’re completely bullshit is sometimes the wrong choice. I learned that sometimes the right thing is to do the wrong thing. It has always been the case for me when I was in the Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“Well,” GL said, “Considering how much of a threat that robot was… I’m going to have to agree with you there. However, you acted as if you were still a solo act. You should’ve at least told the team what you were going to do and why.”

“Maybe so,” Soron said, “But since J’onn had already decided that the mission was over due to his fear of creating an international incident, there wasn’t a team at that point in time.”

“I can understand your reasoning,” GL said, “But for future reference, wait until you get the go ahead or tell your team about it first.”

“Even if the mission is scrubbed?” Soron asked.

“Even then,” GL nodded.

“What makes you think I’m sticking around?” Soron asked as he looked at his leg and arm, “I have two broken limbs…”

GL just raised an eyebrow at him which made him realize that GL had it worse.

“Okay maybe not that,” Soron conceded before he said, “However, my helmet and jets that I used to fly have been destroyed. Same goes for my blasters. I’m just a normal person now. I am Star Lord no more.”

“Maybe not,” GL said, “But that doesn’t mean you can’t be someone else, something else, anything else.”

“I’m not being Agent Venom,” Soron said sternly, “It’s too much of a risk.”

“I wasn’t talking about that horrifying gunk,” GL said as he shuddered in disgust.

“Then what were you talking about?” Soron asked in confusion.

“I’ll tell you when your limbs have healed,” GL said, “Or Diana will if I’m busy, especially since you two live together now. Of course, that’s if you decide to wait on deciding if you’ll leave the team or wait.”

“Fine,” Soron sighed, “I’ll wai-”

Suddenly his face became pale as he saw a transparent green being with a ferocious expression and the last word he spoke before fainting was, “Gamora.”

**With The Arrow…**

The Arrow in nothing but a white towel wrapped around his waist walked out of a shower as he scratched his head.

“Well if it isn’t the monster killer,” Batman said as he leaned against a wall across from the showers with his arms crossed.

“I was lucky,” Arrow said, “So was everybody else. Still don’t think I belong up here.”

“That’s the point,” Batman said, “Someone like you will keep us honest.”

“Even that Star Lord fella?” Arrow asked.

“He’ll keep us honest as well,” Batman said, “He proved that by going with you to try to find the source of the radiation.”

“Gee Bats,” Arrow said as he massaged his goatee covered chin, “I don’t know. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy a good radiation burn as much as the next guy, but I don’t think-”

The Arrow stopped talking as he saw a blonde haired woman wearing all black and had a black mask covering her face. Yes that is the Arrowverse version of the Black Canary outfit. Batman looked to see what Arrow was staring at as well.

“So,” Batman smirked looking at Arrow, “See you soon?”

“You just might,” Arrow said as he looked back at Batman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes i used some of the "Hooked on a feeling" lyrics from Blue Swede that were in the GotG Vol. 1 awesome mix in the MCU. yes i changed how the robot was defeated, but lets be serious. Captain Atom would've had to have been insane knowing that Green Arrow's arrows are able to get through the heat-made force field without burning up or melting, but still went to put the carbon rods into the robot's reactor himself. it just makes more sense to me to do it this way. either way, the robot was defeated so overall it was the same.


	8. Interim II: Hero Reborn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana is held ransom. Soron acquires powers. Batman and Soron argue. Diana is rescued.

Interim II: Hero Reborn

 

It has been several days since Soron’s left arm and right leg had been broken alongside his favorite blasters, jetboots, and his helmet. He was wearing a black suit, white button down long-sleeved shirt, and a black tie. Thanks to his Xandarian physiology he healed almost as fast as the Flash does. For some reason this reality enhances his healing instead of keeping it like a human’s. Right now Soron was sitting in his chair at his office at WayneTech just absentmindedly doodling as he had nothing to do. No paperwork, no board meetings, no nothing. He was completely and utterly bored out of his mind. He almost wished that someone would attack him at this moment, but since he didn’t have his tech anymore he knew that he would be helpless. When his desk phone rang he quickly picked it up to answer it.

“Hello?” Soron said trying to sound not too bored or excited.

“Mr. MacLeod,” said a distorted voice, “If you want to see Diana Prince again, send me ten million dollars.”

“I don’t have that kind of money,” Soron said.

“No,” the voice said seeming to be amused, “But your employer, Mr. Wayne, does, He has a vault in his mansion that has more than enough. He won’t miss ten million dollars. Don’t bother going to the cops or the Justice League. I’ll know if you do, and if you go against my demands I’ll kill her slowly, painfully, and viciously.”

“How will I contact you?” Soron asked as he tried to reign in his anger.

“You won’t,” the voice responded, “I’ll contact you.”

The call then ended abruptly and Soron slammed a fist against his desk hard in rage. He then stood up and headed towards the exit to the office. He grabbed his black long coat on the way out.

“Mr. MacLeod?” asked his secretary in confusion with a nervous tone when she saw his expression.

“Nancy,” Soron said as he headed to her desk, “Take the day off today. I’m leaving for the day. Before you leave, cancel all my appointments.”

“But sir,” Nancy said, “You said that Ray Palmer from PalmerTech was supposed to meet you today in five minutes.”

“I did?” Soron asked confused before he realized he did, “In that case we’ll have the appointment outside of the building. There must be ghosts around, because I keep getting the shivers like one would when they’re being watched.”

“I understand sir,” Nancy said realizing what he was actually saying.

“You deserve a raise,” Soron said giving a genuine smile, “We’ll talk about it later when I have more time.”

“Yes sir,” Nancy said smiling as well.

**Later, in the lobby…**

Soron had just walked out of the elevator when Ray Palmer walked into the building. Soron quickly walked towards him and before Ray headed over to the front desk Soron grabbed his arm.

“Mr. MacLeod?” Ray asked before he put on a smile, “Of course! Who else would it be?”

“Mr. Palmer,” Soron said as he headed towards the door, “Let’s have our appointment walking down the sidewalk.”

“Okay?” Ray said in confusion but followed him nonetheless.

“So we need to talk about the possibility of our companies combining forces,” Ray said as he and Soron walked down the sidewalk.

“Go on,” Soron said.

“I have created a design for a new technology that could really help the world,” Ray continued.

“My company has the resources to build some of it,” Palmer said, “but the main item we need is owned by WayneTech which is owned by WayneCo.”

“I’ll take your offer up to Mr. Wayne,” Soron said before he whispered without turning to look at Ray, “I need you to get into contact with Sara and any of the other ex-Legends that you can.”

“Why are we whispering?” Ray whispered back.

“Diana is being held hostage,” Soron whispered in return, “I have to pay the ransom of Ten million dollars which I have to steal from Bruce Wayne himself. I can’t go to the police or the League because I’m being watched.”

“Understood,” Ray said normally, “I will wait for your call on if Mr. Wayne is agreeable or not.”

“Till next time we meet,” Soron said as he turned to shake Ray’s hand.

“May there be great news for the both of us,” Ray said as he shook Soron’s hand.

**Two days later…**

Soron walked up to Bruce Wayne’s mansion and rang the doorbell. It took several minutes of waiting as the mansion is as large as… well… a mansion. Eventually, the front door open and Alfred stood in the doorway.

“Mr. MacLeod,” Alfred said, “Are you here to see Master Bruce?”

“Yeah,” Soron said, “I have business proposition from Ray Palmer of PalmerTech.”

“Very well sir,” Alfred said, “You can wait in the dining room. I shall go fetch the master.”

“Thank you Alfred,” Soron said as he went into the dining room. However, when Alfred was on his way to find Bruce, Soron hurried through the house till he found the drawing room. He messed around in there till he found a button which he then pressed. After doing so the floor opened up revealing stairs that lead down. Soron then went down the stairs, and when he got there he saw that he was right as to the vault’s location. However, the vault had a fingerprint scanner and an iris scanner, so he realized that he couldn’t do anything to rescue Diana.

He just collapsed to his knees in sadness that yet again he was helpless to save anyone. He did even notice someone walk down to him and knock him out. When he woke to, he found himself in a cell at the watchtower.

“Fuck,” Soron said realizing that Diana’s life has more than likely been ended upon the point he was captured.

“Why were you trying to get into my vault?” asked Batman from the shadows outside the room. As Soron looked out of the cell’s energy barrier Batman walked into the light.

“I wish I could tell you,” Soron replied, “But I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Batman asked narrowing his eyes.

“Can’t,” Soron said.

“Your secretary told me that you felt like you were being watched,” Batman said, “There is no way they could be watching you know, whoever they are.”

“Can’t risk it,” Soron said.

“Good thing I brought a friend,” Batman said just as J’onn flew out of the floor and became tangible again.

“No,” Soron said as he tried to get away from J’onn, “No! I can’t tell you anything in any way! Stop! You promised!”

“I am sorry,” J’onn said, “But you left me with no choice.”

J’onn then grabbed Soron’s head as his eyes glowed allowing him entrance into Soron’s mind. A minute later J’onn returned and let go of Soron who slid down on the wall and sat down.

“I know why he was attempting to steal from you,” J’onn said gravely, “Diana is being held for ransom. If he came to us or the cops, Diana’s life would’ve been over.”

“How much money did the abductors demand?” Batman asked.

“Ten million dollars,” J’onn replied.

Batman didn’t show any emotion, but right now he was pissed off. He opened the door to Soron’s cell and crossed his arms.

“Come with me,” Batman said to Soron who slowly got up and followed Batman. When they arrived at the medical wing Batman turned to the right and entered a room.

“Why are we here?” Soron asked.

“Quiet and watch,” Batman said stiffly. He then pressed some buttons on the wall, and a second later a hologram of a humanoid being appeared.

“What am I looking at?” Soron asked.

“This is your physiology,” Batman replied.

“Why are you showing it to me?” Soron asked.

“You have some inactive cells in your body,” Batman explained, “We believe that should they become active, you could gain some natural powers of your own.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before?” Soron asked narrowing his eyes.

“You had a crippled arm and leg,” Batman answered, “Also, we had the feeling you would reject our offer.”

“You offering to activate them,” Soron realized.

“Correct,” Batman said.

“There’s no point,” Soron said, “Even with whatever powers rise up, Diana will still die cause the Justice League is now involved.”

“You are a member of the League,” Batman said, “Its already involved.”

“I’m nothing without my gadgets,” Soron said.

“It’s not the gadgets or the powers,” Batman said, “It’s the man who uses them that makes the hero.”

“If I agree to this,” Soron said, “How long would it take to do, and how long would it be till the powers became active?”

“It would take a few minutes to activate the cells,” Batman said, “However, we have no way of knowing of when the powers will become active.”

Soron stood there thinking long and hard about what to do, but eventually he came to a decision. He looked up at Batman with resolve and said, “Do it.”

Batman then had Soron lay on a hospital bed while he began doing some simulations on the hologram. Eventually, the hologram showed the cells coming to life. Batman then created a serum and walked over to Soron.

“This will probably hurt a lot,” Batman said as he injected Soron with the serum.

“You need to work on your bedside man-” Soron said before he began screaming. He began thrashing around which prompted J’onn to hold him down and Batman to put restraints on him. Eventually, he stopped thrashing about and laid still. When Batman checked his pulse, he felt relieved as Soron’s heart was still beating.

“Where are you going?” J’onn asked as Batman headed towards the door.

“I’m going to go find Diana,” Batman replied.

“If you find them Diana, the abductor may kill her on the spot,” J’onn warned.

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Batman said as he left the room and ran to the Javelin Bay.

**Later…**

Soron slowly woke up and found himself restrained to the bed with J’onn standing nearby.

“Why am I restrained?” Soron asked.

“You were thrashing about,” J’onn replied as he came over to undo the restraints, “We restrained you for your own good.”

“Where’s captain grumpy?” Soron asked when he noticed Batman had gone.

“Batman left to go find Diana,” J’onn said.

“That’s too much of a risk,” Soron objected.

“He won’t let anything happen to her,” J’onn replied, “He carries strong feelings towards her.”

“Since there’s no point in doing as the abductor says anymore,” Soron said as he got up, “We need to go help him.”

“We don’t know if the process was successful,” J’onn said, “You might not have any powers.”

“Only one way to find out,” Soron said, “But first… I’m feeling hungry.”

Then to his and Soron’s surprise he blurred over to the cafeteria surprising several heroes. He accidentally bumped into Flash who was carrying a tray full of a lot of foods.

“Whoa dude!” Flash said managing to catch all his food in a few seconds, “I didn’t know you had powers.”

“Well they’re new,” Soron said shocked that he had superspeed, “Tell you about it later.”

“Howdy partner,” said Vigilante as Soron walked up to the buffet table, “I thought you would be quitting the League.”

“Had a change of mind,” Soron said as he put several macaroni and cheese pizzas on his plate.

“Glad to hear that,” Vigilante said, “would suck to see a buddy like you leave the League.”

Soron and Vigilante then sat down at a table and began eating. Vigilante was surprised at how much Soron was eating without feeling full. Only Flash knew why Soron was eating as much as he did.

“Nice seeing you again Vigilante,” Soron said, “But I have somewhere to be.”

“See ya round partner,” Vigilante said tipping his hat to Soron.

Soron then ran out of the room and bumped into J’onn who was on his way to the cafeteria.

“We have to perform tests,” J’onn said narrowing his red eyes at Soron, “don’t use your powers again till we have done them all.”

“Sorry J’onn,” Soron said before speeding off, “But I have to help Bats rescue Diana. See ya.”

“Was that Star Lord I saw running off really fast?” Superman asked as he landed on the ground.

“Yes,” J’onn said, “We used a serum on him to activate some dormant cells in his physiology. He agreed to it so he could rescue Diana. However, I don’t think he should’ve ran off to do so without submitting to several tests.”

“Diana’s in danger?!” Superman exclaimed before he flew off to catch up to Soron.

**With Diana…**

Diana slowly woke up and looked around. For the past three days she had been prisoner of someone wearing a white skull mask and chained up by chains that hung on the ceiling. Her abductor had captured her at night while just after she got out of the shower, so she was wearing nothing but a towel to hide her assets. Said towel has been slowly inching lose as she hang there. Pretty soon her abductor will be able to see her in all her glory. She tested the chains again, but just like before they wouldn’t snap. At that point she just slouched as she began to lose hope.

“Don’t lose hope Princess,” said the man in the white skull mask, “Your boyfriend will do as expected from a member of the Justice League and come here to rescue you.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Diana said through gritted teeth.

“Really?” chuckled the man, “In that case, I can have you all to myself… after I kill him.”

“Who in the name of Hades are you?!” demanded Diana.

“You can call me Taskmaster,” the man replied.

**With Batman…**

Batman had just left Soron’s home where he found evidence of a scuffle that was expertly hidden which would explain why Soron didn’t come to the League earlier. He followed the trail till it reached a school. Specifically, a high school. He knew that he would stand out if he tried to sneak in there now so all he could do was wait till night time.

**With Soron…**

Soron had been running all over the place looking for anything that could lead him to Diana, but his efforts have been fruitless currently. He stopped running once he reached a rooftop and sat down so he could think on where he would take someone if he was in the business of abducting people. However, he couldn’t think of anything so he got angry and punched down on the roof creating a hole.

“So I have super strength as well?” Soron muttered to himself before he grinned, “Awesome.”

“Star Lord,” said the voice of Superman who landed right behind him.

“You’re not going to convince me to go back to the Watchtower to be tested on,” Soron said sternly, “There’s nothing you can do to convince me Clark.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” Superman said.

“Then why are you here?” Soron asked.

“I’m here to help you,” Superman replied.

“Well then,” Soron said, “If you know how to find her, please tell me.”

“Simple,” Superman said, “We find Batman, we find her.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Soron asked getting up, but before he could run off Superman grabbed him. Superman then flew up into the sky as he already knew where Batman was.

**Later…**

Batman saw the end of day school bus arrive which meant it was time for the students to go home. That’s when Batman stood up and leapt off the building to glide to the school’s rooftop. Just as he got there he saw Superman flying over with Soron in his lap.

“What are you doing here?” Batman asked Soron when they landed, “You don’t have any powers.”

“Sure about that?” Soron asked before blurring away then behind him. Batman widened his eyes slightly then spun around when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. When nobody was there he turned around again and saw Soron standing there with a smirk on his face. Batman only narrowed his eyes before turning around and heading towards a sunroof.

“Diana is here somewhere,” Batman said, “I followed the trail to here.”

“What trail?” Soron asked.

“The trail from your house,” Batman replied, “Don’t feel bad. The person who nabbed her is an expert. It’s no surprise you didn’t realise she was missing two days ago.”

“She’s still my roommate,” Soron said, “I’ll find here. Hang tight.”

“Wait don’t!” Superman tried but Soron was already gone. He then sighed, “How is it he’s all of a sudden a rookie?”

“He’s not,” Batman said, “He’s just doing what you would do for Lois. He may not realise it, but he has it bad for Diana.”

“Not much of an excuse,” Superman said, “But I can relate. Are you okay with the fact that those two might be an item?”

“People who get close to me in that way end up dead,” Batman said bluntly.

“That’s not what I asked,” Superman said raising narrowing his eyes.

“Let’s get to them before he does something stupid,” Batman said changing the subject.

**With Diana…**

Diana was about to lose hope entirely till the door blew open and at the door was Soron wearing a suit and tie. Light was shining from behind him making him look like a shadow.

“Honey,” Soron quipped, “I’m home.”

“Really?” Diana asked, “You just had to use a stupid quip? How’d you get the door to fly off its hinges? Actually, no. Leave now!”

“What are you talking about?” Soron asked as he took a step towards him.

“It’s a trap!!” Diana yelled. However, she was too late as a dwarf star alloy block went flying down on top of him. That made her yell in rage and grief, “No!”

“Heh heh heh,” said the voice of Taskmaster as he walked out of the shadows, “I told you he would be that stupid. Now he’s dead.”

“You bastard,” Diana growled before she pulled hard on the chains using all of her strength and willpower.

“That’s Asgardian steel,” Taskmaster sneered, “You won’t be able to break out of it.”

However, to his shock she shattered the chains causing her to fall to her feet. When she did so her head was bent forwards and when she looked up she had the look of extreme animalistic rage on her face. She then flew at him with her fist raised as she roared.

“Oh shit,” Taskmaster said as he backed up while pulling his sword and shield just before Diana reached him and punched hard. The punch set him flying back into the brick wall. When he fell out of the wall a hole was left.

“You killed the man I love!” Diana yelled as she picked him up and held him to the wall, “I’m going to rip your heart out! That is if you have a heart.”

“Shut up you whore,” Taskmaster said as he stabbed his sword through Diana’s stomach. Diana stumbled back as she coughed blood. Taskmaster then kicked her causing her to fall onto her back.

“I’ve always hated you demigods,” Taskmaster said as he raised his sword up with the intent to stab down on her. However, he was distracted when the sound of something moving. When he looked, he saw the dwarf star alloy lifting which made him widen his eyes in surprise. Soron had a furious glare on his face and had his clothes ripped a little. When he saw Diana lying down with blood pooling around her and Taskmaster standing over her with a bloody sword.

“You,” Soron snarled, “Bastard.”

He then threw the dwarf star alloy at Taskmaster as he yelled, “I’ll kill you!”

Taskmaster was unable to do anything as the extremely heavy block sped at him and then rammed into him causing him to go flying into the wall. Soron quickly sped at Diana and held her head up. When she looked at him she widened her eyes at the fact that Soron was alive.

“I thought… you… were dead,” Diana said between gasps.

“Little ol’ me?” Soron said, “It’s going to take a lot more than a metal block to kill me.”

“You’re tougher than I thought MacLeod,” said Taskmaster as he picked himself up from the ground, “I won’t underestimate you again.”

“I’ll be right back,” Soron said to Diana before laying her head down and then turning to glare at Taskmaster as he said angrily, “I thought you were nothing but a blood spot on the wall.”

“You were wrong,” Taskmaster said cockily.

“Let me fix that,” Soron said before he blurred at Taskmaster. However, Taskmaster was prepared. He quickly spun out of the way and in the process swiped at Soron’s back. Soron suddenly tripped as he lurched back in pain. His inertia sent him rolling into the wall.

Taskmaster walked towards him with the intention to stab down at him. However, something wrapped around his legs causing him to trip. After he had fallen down he looked and saw some black bolos.

“What?” Taskmaster said in confusion before looked up and saw Batman falling towards him with his fist raised back. Taskmaster stabbed upwards with his sword, but before Batman could be skewered his wrist suddenly felt a burning sensation on his wrist. He watched in slow motion as his hand fell off and turned to look at who could of done that. Soron had shot green lasers out of his eyes which was proved by his eyes green glow fading away. Taskmaster looked back at Batman a second time just as Batman’s fist connected with his face rendering him unconscious.

“Diana,” Soron suddenly said as he sped to her and when he did she was unconscious.

“Nonononono,” Soron said as he shook her, “Don’t die on me. I can’t lose another one! Wake up! Damn it Diana! Wake up you beautiful bitch!”

However, Diana stayed unconscious which prompted Soron to hold her tightly as he let tears come out.

“Diana…” Batman said quietly as he walked up to Soron and stood behind him silently with his eyes closed and his head bent forward.

When Superman arrived he looked at the wreckage, the unconscious form of Taskmaster, but what drew his attention was the unmoving form of Diana that was being held tightly by Soron who was red in the eyes which indicated he was crying his heart out.

“No,” Superman said as he flew over to them. However, as he did so his ears picked up on something faint. He quickly focused on the sound and heard a heartbeat beating slowly and it was coming from Diana. He quickly picked her up as he said, “She’s still alive!”

“Watchtower!” Batman said quickly, “Teleport all four of us up now!”

**Later…**

Diana was in the medical wing asleep after the medical staff patched her up and Batman, Superman, and Soron stood outside of the operating room as they waited impatiently for the doctor’s news. Eventually, the doctor came out and walked over to them.

“She’s alive,” the doctor said gravely, “The object that stabbed her nearly severed her spine. An inch to the right and she would’ve become paralyzed from the waist down.”

“Thank you for your help,” Superman said.

“How long till she fully recovers?” Batman asked.

“Seeing as she’s an Amazon and has enhances normal humans don’t,” the doctor said thoughtfully, “I honestly can’t say.”

“She better recover,” Soron said darkly, “If she doesn’t. I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

Batman quickly grabbed him and dragged him away so he could speak to him in private.

“What is wrong with you?!” Batman demanded.

“What’s wrong with me?” Soron said, “Nothing! This is who I am!”

“Are you a killer?” Batman asked.

“In this universe I have tried to comply with the general consensus of ‘heroes never kill,’” Soron said, “However, in my universe the world doesn’t care if the heroes kill as long as the ones being killed are the villains and there isn’t any other way. Which, by the way, is 90% of the time!”

“What made you revert to the old way of thinking?” Batman asked, “Is it because you almost lost another woman that you love?”

“What?” Soron spluttered, “I don’t love her!”

“You figure out what your true feelings for Diana are,” Batman said, “When you do, next time you better not let them get in the way of the job or make you do something stupid.”

“Where’s Taskmaster?” Soron asked changing the subject.

“Who?” Batman asked.

“The bastard that stabbed Diana,” Soron specified.

“He’s currently being held for questioning by the Justice League,” Batman replied, “who is he? I’ve never seen or heard of him before.”

“He’s from my universe,” Soron said, “He has a unique talent that allows him to use his enemies tactics against him once they’ve been used against him.”

“How’d he get here?” Batman asked.

“I don’t know,” Soron said, “But if he can come here then… I can go back.”

“Why would you want to go back?” Batman asked, “There’s nothing for you there.”

“I still have the Guardians,” Soron said, “and revenge.”

“Revenge won’t make you feel any better” Batman said, “The hole inside of you will still be there, so you’ll try to fill it with other things. Money, sex, murder, anything and everything.”

“Speaking from experience?” Soron asked raising his eyebrow.

“No,” Batman said, “I’ve just known many who have gotten their revenge. It never ended well for them.”

“Until you calm down and return to what you were prior to Diana’s near-death,” Batman said, “I’m taking you off the active duty roster.”

**The next week…**

Diana slowly woke up and saw Soron sleeping in the chair next to her with his head flopped to the side. Soron now wore a black leather jacket over a grey shirt and wore black jeans on his legs and black running shoes on his face. She smiled at how peaceful he looked and then started tearing up at how close to death she and Soron had gotten to not that long ago.

“Diana,” said Batman as he walked out of the shadows.

“Hey Bruce,” Diana said as she made to sit up before she cringed from the pain and laid back down, “What brings you here? I doubt its to send me on a mission in my condition.” 

“You’re right,” Batman said as he walked forward, “I’m here to ask you how you’re feeling.”

“I’ve been better,” Diana said.

“That wasn’t what I meant,” Batman said bluntly.

“Did you mean how I feel for Soron?” Diana asked as she began to get uncomfortable.

“Yes,” Batman said.

“I… I think… I think I love him,” Diana said quietly.

“Then you need to keep him on the straight and narrow,” Batman said, “Don’t do anything reckless either.”

“What are you talking about?” Diana asked.

“After the medical staff patched you up,” Batman said, “He threatened the head doctor that if you didn’t recover he’d make the doctor wish he was ever born.”

“That doesn’t sound like him,” Diana said frowning.

“He was enraged that he almost lost you that day,” Batman said, “He was also afraid that he was still going to. You mean more to him than either of you know.”

“He loves his dead wife,” Diana said with a tinge of jealousy, “Not me. I don’t think that will ever change.”

“Maybe not,” Batman said, “but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t feel the same for you. Nobody ever truly moves on from those they love who have been killed. I haven’t, but I have come to accept it. It hasn’t stopped me from trying to find a relationship.”

“I’m sorry Bruce,” Diana said dryly, “But its not the same. He lost his wife and daughter who he loved more than anything in the world. You only lost your parents.”

“That was a low blow,” Batman said narrowing his eyes.

“It’s the truth,” Diana said.

“You’re wrong,” Batman said as he turned away from her, “I know what it’s like to lose a child. Jason was murdered by the Joker two days ago.”

“Oh,” Diana said guiltily as Batman walked off.

“You have nice curves Diana,” said Soron’s voice startling her. When she looked at him she saw he was still asleep.

“I’d love to run my tongue all over your nice… jiggly…” Soron trailed off as he snored.

_ Maybe he does love me,  _ Diana thought as she watched Soron sleep,  _ I hope so. I’d hate to feel the pain of being rejected. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, i brought Taskmaster into this. I honestly didn't know who to use as the villain so i figured why not. Soron still doesn't realize what his true feelings for Diana are. He won't for quite a while yet, i believe. i may get tired of having him be stupid and put them into the relationship quickly, but i may just have it be a slow progression.


	9. Episode 2: For the Man Who Has Everything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman, Wonder Woman, and Soron arrive at the Fortress of Solitude to celebrate clark's b-day. it goes horribly wrong.

Episode 2: For the Man Who Has Everything

 

It has been a month and a half since Wonder Woman’s near-death experience and she’s now fully healed. Right now she was flying her Invisible Plane with Batman and Soron as passengers. Soron in the outfit he wore when Diana woke up a week after she was brought to the Watchtower medical wing. Diana put the plane into descent once she reached the coordinates for Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Once it emerged from the clouds they could see a massive chunk of ice that seemed out of place in the otherwise-featureless frozen plain. Suddenly, the plane made a dive into the water at the edge of the ice and headed into a tunnel carved into the wall.

“A little sharp on the turn,” Batman said, “Don’t you think?”

“Sorry if I scared you,” Diana said sarcastically.

Soron burst out in laughter which he quickly silenced when Batman used one of his infamous Batglares. Soron learned a while ago that when Batman does that it’s best to stop whatever you were doing that earned it. As the plane surfaced in an icy cavern, the cockpit opened and the three hopped out. Wonder Woman and Soron stopped to pull out an enormous box which would’ve been heavy for normal people. Soron hoisted it up on his shoulder as Wonder Woman bent down to grab the present she got for Superman. Soron had to use all his willpower to keep himself from reaching out and clenching her rear end, and he was confused as to why he wanted to. Both of their packages were covered in wrapping paper.

“So,” Batman asked conversationally as they walked up a flight of stairs, “what’d you get him?”

“I ain’t telling,” Soron said, “Don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“That’s why I’m not saying anything either,” Diana said in agreement.

“You do realize,” Batman stage-whispered, “he can hear that too.”

“What did you get him?” Diana asked after she shook her head.

“Bruce…” Diana began.

“You didn’t get a gift card or a gift certificate did you?” Soron asked Batman with narrowed eyes.

“No!” Batman said in annoyance, “Cash.”

While Soron rolled his eyes Wonder Woman struggled not to laugh.

“I mean,” Batman explained, “what do you get the man who has everything?”

As they reached the top of the stairs, they froze. Standing in front of them was Superman; however, he was in no shape to greet them. A strange purple plant had its vines wrapped around his body, and he had a blank look in his eyes. The three rushed towards him in concern.

“It seems to be growing through his costume and into his body,” Batman said as he examined the plant closely.

“Is he breathing?” Wonder Woman asked in concern.

“Barely,” Batman replied.

“How is that even possible?” Soron asked, “He has taken hits from things much bigger than that plant thing.”

“A question for another time,” Batman said, “We need to help him, and find out who did this.”

“Someone must have breached the fortress!” Diana exclaimed.

“Agreed,” Batman said, “You and Soron have a look around.”

Wonder Woman flew on ahead with Soron ran off in another direction.

Batman took out a penlight on his utility belt and shined it in Superman’s eyes.

“Pupil’s aren’t contracting even slightly,” Batman muttered, “He must be cut off from all sensation. Kent, where are you?”

Batman then looked down at the container by Superman’s feet which looked like a giant pill in two halves. Batman quickly guess what happened.

“So it was a gift,” Batman said as he picked up one of the halves, “teleported here by some alien culture or some grateful world. Or someone that wanted you to think they were grateful.”

“How remarkable,” commented a voice from behind Batman. When he turned around he saw a big buff yellow alien wearing a purple jumpsuit. Said alien stood in the entrance to the hallway that Wonder Woman had gone down clutching Wonder Woman in his hand.

“You animals really are almost intelligent,” the alien said, “That’s exactly what happened.”

“Hey Bat-” Soron began when he returned. However, when he saw the Diana unconscious in the alien’s hand his saw red. He yelled, “Hey ugly! What are you called?”

“He’s called Mongul,” Batman growled.

Soron’s rage only grew as he remembered a file of one of the League’s missions.

“You recognise me,” Mongul smirked sadistically, “I’m flattered. I’m sure that Superman told you about our previous encounter.”

“You mean how he humiliated you?” Batman said as he raised an eyebrow.

“A jaundiced account,” Mongul said no longer smirking triumphantly. Mongul then held Wonder Woman up as if she were an insect to be studied and said, “What inferior specimens he surrounds himself with. I took HER down before she even knew I was there. And I’ll take this whole planet just as easily.”

Wonder Woman’s eyes snapped open, and slammed both of her feet up into Mongul’s face. The shock of the impact caused him to let go of her.

“Maybe not as easily as you think,” Diana said.

Soron’s rage depleted now that he knew Wonder Woman was alright.

Mongul rubbed his jaw while glaring at her as she continued, “We ‘inferior specimens’ call it ‘playing possum.’”

“Hey Assole!” Soron snarled to Mongul, “I’m the guy that’s going to rip you a new one!” 

“Give it your best shot shrimp,” Mongul sneered. Just as Wonder Woman was about to engage with him, and Soron was about to blur at him Batman stepped between them.

“No,” Batman said.

“No?!” Soron and Diana said in shock at the same time.

With a superior smile on his face, Mongul stepped up to Diana as he sneered, “Clearly the males on this planet are the smart ones.”

Soron got so angry he clenched his hands so hard his hands paled.

“He wants to know about the plant,” Mongul said before he walked up to Superman.

“The Black Mercy is telepathic species,” Mongul continued, “it reads the heart’s desires and feeds the individual a totally convincing simulation of it.”

If it was at all possible, Mongul’s smile grew more evil.

“So he’s dreaming,” Batman summarized.

Soron’s rage grew as he began to hate Mongul more and more. Mongul looked almost offended at Batman’s conclusion.

“Oh,” Mongul corrected, “this is far deeper than any dream.”

He then tilted Superman’s face up to look into his eyes as he said, “I wonder where he thinks he is? Sitting on a throne, ruling the universe? All you human garbage fawning at his feet? More honest, don’t you think, than this pretense of being a selfless hero?”

“That’s it,” Soron snarled, “I’ve heard enough. Now I think I’m going to pummel you to near death.”

“I’d like to see you try,” sneered Mongul. Soron blurred at Mongul and punched him in the head hard as Diana rammed into his abdomen. After striking him, Wonder Woman nearly collapsed; Mongul’s hide was so dense she’d nearly broken her hands hitting him. Soron on the other hand only felt the usual pain a normal human would when punching another human.

“You may actually be a threat,” Mongul said impressed at Soron’s strength, “But you will die alongside everyone else. Superman is the only true threat to me.”

“You sure?” Soron asked as his eyes glowed green before he blasted Mongul with them knocking him back through a wall.

Determined to get back into the fight Batman and Wonder Woman attacked. Unfortunately, Mongul was more prepared for these two as Superman never used his heat vision on him before. He backhanded Wonder woman into a wall, and threw Batman into Superman. In this case a wall would’ve been preferable. Mongul quickly leapt in the air so he could Hulk Smash Batman, but before Mongul could crush Batman Soron leapt in the air at him and grabbed him. Soron then spun in the air and threw Mongul away from Batman. Mongul snarled and ran at Soron while Soron ran at him. When they reached each other Soron’s right fist was in Mongul’s left hand and Mongul’s right fist was held back by Soron’s left hand.

“Diana!” Batman yelled, “Can you keep him busy for a few minutes? I think Soron might be strong enough to rip the parasite off of Superman!”

Wonder Woman then tackled Mongul, knocking them through a wall, and followed him. This allowed Soron to relax now that he didn’t have to worry about keeping Mongul back. 

“Soron!” Batman urged, “Hurry!”

“Yeah yeah,” Soron said, “I’ll be right there.”

He then blurred over to Superman and stood in front of him. Before he attempted to rip the plant off of Superman he looked at the hole in the wall.

“Will she be okay?” Soron asked.

“She knocked him into the hall of weapons,” Batman said, “That should buy her a few minutes.”

“Rocket would love that room,” Soron smiled remembering his old friend.

“Focus!” Batman said, “If you want to help her, get this thing off of Superman.”

Soron then wrapped his hands around the plant and began to pull with all his strength. The plant was stubborn and refused to leave Superman, but Soron would not give up either. With a ferocious roar he ripped it off. The force caused him to spin around and in the process accidentally place the plant on himself.

“No!” Batman yelled as Soron’s face grew a smile and his eyes went blank.

**At Soron’s former home back in his universe…**

Soron slowly picked his head up from the table and smiled at Gamora who looked at him funny.

“What?” Soron asked, “Do I have something on my face?”

“Yes,” Gamora said as she began to laugh uncontrollably, “You have your supper all over the right side of your face.”

“Uhhhh,” Soron said as he got up, “I’ll be right back.”

He ran into the bathroom and saw mashed potato, peas, corn, and barbecue sauce all over the right side of his face.

“Oh come on!” Soron yelled in irritation. As soon as he had finished showering to remove the food from his face he dried himself off and put some clothes on.

“Come on honey!” Gamora called, “We’re going to be late for Nebula’s first day of school.”

“On my way dear,” Soron called out before he muttered, “For christ’s sake, that woman’s driving me up a wall.”

**At the fortress…**

Superman slowly shook off the effects of the Black Mercy; his eyes fell upon Batman furiously trying to pull the plant off of Soron. Then he suddenly remembered what happened and who was responsible.  _ Mongul! _ Superman thought. He’d made him see the end of his world, the end of his parents, and the end of his could’ve been family! He heard the sounds of fists against flesh which meant that someone was fighting. That meant that Mongul was fighting someone else. Ignoring Batman entirely, he flew through the hole that Diana made when she tackled Mongul. Mongul needed to pay for his actions!

Wonder Woman was currently lying on the ground, her body nearly broken by Mongul’s savage beating. She was barely conscious as the alien warlord picked up a spear from the Hall of Weapons, and prepared to drive it through her heart. Mongul’s sadistic smile was back in full force; he prepared to drive home his weapon when a noise made him pause. He only had a moment to look surprised before Superman collided with him crashing through room after room of the fortress. The two eventually landed in Superman’s “zoo,” a place he kept the animals he had rescued from the alien collector. In his rage Superman threw punch after punch after punch, and for the moment he didn’t care how much damage he did to his fortress.

“Do you have any idea what you did to me?!” Superman yelled angrily.

Mongul had to endure another minute of savage beating before he was able to kick Superman off of him sending him backwards. Though he was in pain, he was still able to grin.

“I fashioned a prison that you couldn’t leave without sacrificing your heart’s desire,” Mongul said as he stood up before cracking a tendon in his neck, “It must have been like tearing your own arm off.”

He then reached for Superman’s head.

**With Diana…**

Diana slowly crawled to where she had last seen Soron and Batman. She was in no shape to continue fighting, so the best thing to do was to stay away from the battle. After a few minutes, she made it back. However, the scene before her was enough to make her forget her pain entirely. The Black Mercy was now attached to Soron. She saw Batman futilely trying to pull it off over and over again.

“Hera, no,” Diana said.

Batman heard her and turned around; his eyes widened when he saw her battered form.

“Are you alright?” Batman asked as he helped her up.

“I’ve been better,” Diana admitted weakly, “What happened to Soron?”

“He pulled off the plant,” Batman said, “But it latched to him after Soron spun around due to the force of the pull. We either need Superman to rip it off of him, or somehow Soron has to snap himself out of it.”

“Well, Superman is fighting Mongul; we’re stuck with the second option,” Diana said before she looked at Soron and added, “Can you get me over to him?”

Batman nodded and helped her limp over to Soron.

“Ben,” Diana whispered in Soron’s ear, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but whatever you’re seeing, wherever you are, It’s not REAL. Come back to us, Soron. Come back to me. I love you.”

**Back in Soron’s plant induced daydream…**

 

Soron frowned as he felt a tear form before he rubbed it from his eye.

“What’s the matter dear?” Gamora asked once they were back home and staring at the stars.

“I miss the adventures,” Soron admitted, “I loved being a Guardian so much. I had tons of fun when I was.”

“Do you regret ever falling in love with me?” Gamora asked as she began to sadden.

“No,” Soron said as he looked at her, “Of course not. I love you more than I love being a Guardian. If you didn’t have to retire I wouldn’t have had to make that tough choice.”

“Then we wouldn’t have our child,” Gamora reminded him.

“True,” Soron said, “But back then we didn’t have one so we wouldn’t know what we were missing.”

“I guess I can see your reasoning,” Gamora sighed, “I too miss it at times, but I love this life more. Don’t have to worry about people coming to kill us, getting arrested, and we don’t have to move around all the time.”

_ Soron! _

Soron stared around for a few quick seconds. He could’ve sword he heard someone say his name.

“What is it?” Gamora asked in concern.

“Nothing,” Soron said, “I thought I heard something is all.”

“Okay then,” Gamora said pulling on him, “Let’s get to bed. We have long day tomorrow.”

“You mean I do,” Soron said, “I’m the only one of us that can go anywhere without being noticed. Even Nebula has to wear makeup all day in order to not be teased or bullied.”

“I hope that someday the world becomes ready for aliens,” Gamora sighed.

_ Soron! _

Soron then winced as he heard the voice again making him rub his head. He swore he recognized it. It was a woman. She sounded scared, desperate even. Who was it and why did it make his heart jump when he heard her voice? He knelt on the floor as he clutched his head.

“Soron?” Gamora asked concerned, “Are you okay? Why don’t you come back to bed?”

It was then that Soron remembered everything. As he did so, the world began rumbling. He sat next to Gamora and hugged her tight.

“I’ll find a way to come home and bring our daughter back to life,” Soron said as he began to cry.

“Soron,” Gamora said getting nervous, “You’re scaring me.”

“I love you and I always will,” Soron said as he looked her in the eyes, “but I can’t put my life on hold just because of that. I have to move on.”

Gamora then began to cry as well and then they held each other before she disintegrated into nothingness. He looked down and saw the same happening to him, and then there was nothing but the black.

**Back in the real world…**

Soron blinked twice as soon as he came to and when he did he saw the Black Mercy still on his chest. In a fit of rage he ripped it off and threw on the ground and kicked it across the room. He went over to the nearest wall and punched hard. When his fist impacted on the ice cracks formed, but thankfully not enough to bring the whole place crashing down on top of them.

“It’s alright Soron,” Diana said as she limped up to him, “You’re not alone. You’ll always have people who care about you in this world.”

“Where’s Mongul?” Soron said looking right at her. Not with sadness in his eyes, but with primal animalistic rage.

“You better not go do what I think you intend to do,” Batman said narrowing his eyes as he walked up.

“Would you condemn me if I did?” Soron accused.

“No,” Batman replied honestly as he crossed his arms, “But we would still have to kick you off the League. Killing is not how we do things.”

“Oh I have something worse in mind,” Soron said as he eyed the Black Mercy.

Batman actually let out a smile as he too was thinking the same thing. Time for Mongul to receive a little Mercy.

**With Superman…**

Superman was swinging a barrage of punches at Mongul in extreme rage. He had lost everything twice, and the second time he had to witness it for himself. Just before Superman could punch him again, Mongul swept the legs out from under him.

“Now,” Mongul sneered, “Last son of Krypton. Prepare to join your people in oblivion!”

“Hey pisspot!” called out a voice from above them.

Superman and Mongul turned to see who it was and saw Soron with the Black Mercy in his hands. Before Mongul could do anything Soron had already blurred down there and slapped the plant onto his chest. Superman and Soron stared down at the now prone form of Mongul which had the Black Mercy wrapped around his chest. Mongul had an evil insane grin on his face.

“Where do you think he is?” Superman asked.

“Couldn’t care less,” Soron said before he spat on Mongul.

“Really?” Superman said with a raised eye.

“What?” Soron said, “If I can’t kill this asshole, I can still show how much I hate him by other means.”

**With Diana…**

Diana ached all over, and couldn’t think very well due to the pain. She just sat against a wall with Batman next to her who was holding his side which was where he had been thrown against Superman. When Superman and Soron returned dragging Mongul on the ground Diana let out a sigh of relief that neither one of them had been subjected to the Black Mercy again.

“I see you got your payback,” Batman said to Soron while gesturing at Mongul.

“It’s more than he deserves,” Soron said as he kicked Mongul in the side.

“Payback?” Superman said in confusion, “What are you talking about?”

“The parasitic plant latched around Soron after he ripped it off of you,” Batman said as he stood up, “Whatever he had seen… nearly drove him mad with anger when he came too.”

“I’m standing right here ya know,” Soron said as he narrowed his eyes, “Fuck it. Let’s just get the out of he-”

Soron said before he remembered the gift he had gotten for Superman. He blurred around till he found the box and when he shook it around he released a sigh of relief when he knew it was still intact.

“Here’s the gift I brought you,” Soron said as he returned with the package in his hands.

“I don’t thinks now’s really the time,” Superman objected.

“Well,” Soron said, “This gift would be best opened here.”

“Why?” Superman asked narrowing his eyes.

“You know when you see it,” Soron said, “and no x-raying it. That’ll ruin the surprise.”

“I’ll open it later,” Superman said as he took the box from Soron, “right now we need to get Wonder Woman back to the medical wing to be checked up.”

“Okay then,” Soron said before he walked over to Wonder Woman and picked her up bridal style.

“Really?” chuckled Diana.

“What?” Soron asked innocently as he walked them down to the Invisible Plane with Superman and Batman behind them.

“Picking me up like a damsel in distress,” Diana said, “You do know any other Amazon would probably kill you for doing this, right?”

“Probably,” Soron admitted, “What is it with Amazon’s and the fanatical belief in girl power? It’s frightening to be honest.”

“I’ll try not to be offended by that,” Diana said with a raised eyebrow.

“Ah,” Soron said, “sorry. You literally are the physical incarnation of girl power. I forgot about that… especially in your state.”

“You might want to stop talking,” Diana said as she narrowed her eyes, “Unless you want to be stuck in a deeper hole.”

“Okay,” Soron said nervously making Diana smirk. When they arrived at the Invisible Plane Soron seated Diana in a Passenger seat before he took the pilot’s seat.

“Hey!” Diana said indignantly, “This is my plane!”

“Diana,” Soron said with a serious expression, “You’re in no shape to be flying in any form. Besides, I don’t want to risk you falling asleep due to your injuries while at the controls.”

“He’s right,” Batman said as he got in the seat behind Diana’s.

“I’ll meet you guys up at the Watchtower,” Superman said before he flew off carrying Mongul with him.

**Later, at the Watchtower…**

Diana was laying on a hospital bed as the medical staff checked her condition. In just a few minutes they were done, and she was free to go. To her surprise, Soron was leaning on wall right next to the door right outside the room. Neither said a word as they both headed to the teleporter which would send them home. When they got home Stanley already had some food made which they ate in silence. The next few days were fairly uneventful. Soron had proved himself ready to be back on the active duty roster, but there hasn’t been any missions for him to go on as of late. Eventually, Soron started seeing Diana differently. He started seeing her in the way he had seen Gamora, and Diana could sense the change. One day when Soron was standing on the roof of a building as he surveyed the city Chicago Diana landed next to him.

“Hey,” Diana said.

“Hey,” Soron replied.

“Hey,” Diana said again.

“What do you want?” Soron asked getting annoyed.

“I wanted to know how you were,” Diana asked, “After that Black Mercy crisis on Clark’s birthday you haven’t been the same.”

“I have something to work towards,” Soron said.

“What’s that?” Diana asked.

“I’m going to find a way to go home,” Soron said with resolve.

“That means you’re going to leave the League,” Diana guessed as she became crestfallen.

“No,” Soron said, “The only reason I’m going back is so I can bring my daughter back to life.”

“People don’t just come back from the dead,” Diana said frowning.

“My universe has ways of doing so,” Soron said, “However, I’m going to beat the shit out of Thanos before I go resurrect her.”

“The League and I can manage without you for a while,” Diana said.

“I’m taking you with me,” Soron said, “Even with my new powers, I won’t stand a chance against Thanos. You’re the only one I know who doesn’t have an issue with killing.”

“How dangerous is he?” Diana asked, “Is he anything like Mongul?”

“He’s much more dangerous,” Soron said.

“Then I don’t know how much help I’ll be,” Diana said, “You saw how I fared against Mongul.”

“We’ll have the Avengers and the Guardians to fight him with us,” Soron said, “I’m sure of it.”

“Avengers?” Diana asked.

“They’re basically my universe’s version of the Justice League,” Soron explained, “The no killing rule is optional though. For some villains they spare and give to Fury to arrest them, but for others they don’t spare them. Especially, if they’re as dangerous as Thanos.”

“Fury?” Diana asked still confused.

“Nick Fury is the Director of Shield,” Soron explained, “they’re basically a paramilitary group that polices all kinds of superbeings and keeps an eye on everything.”

“An alternate version of Argus then,” Diana concluded.

“I don’t think there’ll be any crime tonight,” Soron said, “It’s been a surprisingly slow week where crime is concerned. Let’s head home.”

Before he made to leave Diana suddenly grabbed him and kissed him hard on the mouth for a full two minutes. She then just left him there standing with a dumbstruck expression on his face as she flew off towards the mansion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soron's definitely going to ask Diana out at some point after this episode. don't know when, but he will. he just has to work up the courage to do so.


	10. Episode 3: Hawk and Dove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron finds a weakness in himself. Dove saves the day. GL congratulates Soron.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize for doing this one as episode 3 instead of kids' stuff which vastly prefer over than Hawk and Dove. I just couldn't think of any way Soron could be of use once he got turned into a kid. so we stuck with this. unsure which episode i'll use for next chapter, but you'll know when i upload the next chapter.

Episode 3: Hawk and Dove

 

In a stone room a man was banging away on a piece of metal with a blacksmith’s hammer which lay on an anvil. To his right was a furnace with a big flame flickering. The man himself wasn’t very intimidating and he was short. Not to mention, butt ugly. He wore blacksmith’s clothing from the ancient greek days. There were pillars holding up a rock wall a ways in front of him. Somewhere to his left was a gear and some chains. The item he was hammering on was black and looked like it could be a chest plate for a giant.

“You said come back Tuesday,” said an angry man wearing silver armor with golden highlights and had a red cape on.

“It’s Tuesday,” continued the man as he came to a stop behind the smith who had stopped midswing.

“I want my suit,” finished the man.

The newcomer had short roman style blonde hair, a chiseled chin, and an angry expression on his face.

“Patience brother,” the ugly one said as he resumed his work, “You know how much I care about the detail.”

“It doesn’t have to be pretty Hephaestus,” the angry one countered before adding with a raised eyebrow, “Where’s its going, things aren’t supposed to be pretty.”

“Present company excluded of course,” Hephaestus said attempting to annoy his brother. He was successful.

“Just hurry up,” the angry man ordered. Hephaestus then walked over to the furnace and pulled out a branding iron which had the end red hot. He then walked over to the black armor piece and placed it on the front causing a hissing sound to be heard.

“My finishing touch,” Hephaestus said as he raised the arm holding the hammer. He then hammered down onto the branding iron and when he removed it, his symbol was now a permanent part of the armor. When the brand cooled he placed the hammer and the branding iron into a bucket before picking up the armor piece and carrying it to a gigantic suit of armor with his brother following him.

“The Annihilator,” Hephaestus said proudly, “Heartless, indestructible, and ready to feed your mankind’s misery and rage.” 

“Per your specifications,” Hephaestus added as he gave a sidelong glance to his brother.

“Go ahead Ares,” Hephaestus suggested as he looked at the armor, “Give it life.”

Ares smiled and backed up while drawing out his sword then got into a battle stance. The two gaps in the visor lit up before the Annihilator walked towards Ares menacingly. The Annihilator backhanded Ares’ sword causing Ares to stumble backwards as he kept ahold of his sword. The Annihilator kept swatting at Ares forcing him to walk backwards till he stumbled into a pillar. The Annihilator raised its arms up and clasped them together before swinging downward. Ares was able to block it, but even he was having trouble holding the attack off.

“Enough!” Ares ordered but the Annihilator kept the pressure going for a few seconds longer before backing off and standing straight.

“Wrap it up,” Ares said with a smile, “I’ll take it.”

**Later…**

The Annihilator was now in a war zone walking towards soldiers who were firing automatic rifles at it. One even threw a grenade, but nothing they did could stop it from advancing. A soldier fired a bazooka at it, which caused it to skid back due to the inertia behind the rocket. However, the Annihilator had caught it before turning it back against the soldiers and threw it like a football. The rocket made contact with an abandoned vehicle causing it to explode. A second later flames flickered where the car was and a hubcap rolled out of the fire before laying down not too far from Ares who now wore a business suit and a soldier in green. Said soldier was probably a general of this particular military.

“Impressive,” the general said with a smile.

“Isn’t it?” Ares said also smiling.

When the Annihilator returned to them and it shut down immediately.

“I knew about advances in online weaponry,” the general said amazed, “but this is incredible! Who built it?”

“Ever heard the expression,” Ares said, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth?”

“Ah,” the general said thinking he understood, “Classified.”

“Now I’ve already taken the liberty of imprinting to your voice commands,” Ares said as he walked up to the general, “so Mister Nardok. The only question is; are you interested?”

“Of course,” the general said, “Anything to protect us from those dogs in the south. But Mister Sera you know how little money we have.”

“We can worry about that later,” Ares said as he touched the general on the shoulder.

“You’re joking right?” the general asked unsure if Ares was being serious.

“No,” Ares said as he chuckled a bit, “I trust you. It’s not like you’re going anywhere, is it?”

“With this weapons help,” the general said smiling again as he looked at the Annihilator, “No, we’re certainly staying right here.”

The general then turned to leave as he said, “Follow.”

The Annihilator then turned and left the area behind the general.

Ares watched him go as his suit flamed into his armor.

**Meanwhile, in Chicago, IL…**

Two gunmen were firing away as they backed away from a bank towards a blue car. One had blonde hair and was fit. The other had brown hair and was fat.

“C’mon go go!” said one of the criminals as they ran to the car. They threw their duffels full of stolen money into the back and got into the front. As soon as they had, the blonde one sped away from the ringing bank. They each had a victorious grin on their faces as they believed they had gotten away with it. The blonde one suddenly lost his grin and grew a freaked out expression. Standing in their path was Soron wearing the black leather jacket, grey shirt, black jeans, and black running shoes. This time he wore a strapless mask on his face to hide his identity. The blonde guy then grinned and sped up the car some more, but to his shock Soron slammed down on the hood causing it to flip over his head and land on its wheels behind him. The blonde guy tried to start it again, but the car only sputtered and died. He looked to his left and saw Soron rip the driver’s side door off its hinges and throw it across the street. The blonde guy aimed a gun at him which only made Soron raise an eyebrow.

“I really wouldn’t-” began Soron before he was interrupted by the guy firing the gun. However the bullets only bounced off of him and flew right back at him and his friend. Each of the bullets luckily only hit areas that weren’t fatal. Soron then pulled him out and tossed him into the air before blurring to the passenger’s side and removed the other criminal. When he was finished the criminals were next to their totaled car with the car doors wrapped around them.

“Nice Job,” Diana said as she landed on the ground behind him, “Though you could’ve caused a little less damage.”

“Always a critic,” Soron sighed before turning to look at her and asked, “Is there a mission?”

“Yes,” Diana said, “However, before we go do the mission we need to go find a couple of heroes.”

“Lead on toots,” Soron said causing Diana to raise an eyebrow before simply grabbing him and flying them off.

**Meanwhile, in another city…**

Inside of a Sports bar a blonde teen and an older red headed teen backed up towards a case full of sports trophies.

“Great job getting us into another mess here Don,” the redhead said sarcastically.

“Talk to them,” Don urged, “Do you speak neanderthal?”

“I think they’re done talking,” Hank replied as the other customers came up to them slowly with intention to commit violence.

“This is ridiculous,” Don said, “Just because I disagree with you, doesn’t make me unpatriotic.”

“No,” said one of the thugs, “You being a bleeding heart punk makes you unpatriotic.”

“Actually Don,” Hank said as he looked at him, “I gotta agree with him on that one.”

“Too late trying to side with us,” said the man catching Hank’s attention, “You’re both taking a beating.”

With that the boys were pushed into the display case causing glass to break and the trophies to fall out of the case.

“Look,” Don tried, “We got off on the wrong foot, but don’t you think we can find plenty of things we all have in common if we just try?”

“Nope,” the thug said after a second of thinking.

“Hank,” Don said, “Say something.”

Hank then punched the lead thug causing him to fall backwards into his friends arms as they caught him.

“Preemptive strike,” Hank said while shrugging. The thug stood up and tore his stocking hat off before he roared in anger.

“Hawk!” Hank said as he got into a stance.

“Dove!” said Don as he did the same.

Then all of a sudden in a flash of light they were adorned in superhero costumes that reflected their choice of names. Hawk’s suit was colored primarily white with some red and Dove’s suit was colored primarily blue with some white. When the thugs uncovered their eyes they saw two superheroes standing in front of them.

“Boo,” Hawk said before he punched two thugs. Dove on the other hand just fought defensively which also reflected his non-violent nature; albeit minorly.

Hawk slid a guy across the bar right before Dove delivered a spinning kick towards a fat thug who ran at him.

“Oh,” Dove said in annoyance, “You so wanted to do this.”

“Don’t blame me!” Hawk countered as he lifted a tabletop up to block incoming bottles, “You’re the one who couldn’t keep your trap shut.”

Two thugs then rammed into the object he was holding and pushed him back, but Hawk pushed back in return till he thrusted which resulted in the thugs crashing through the wooden wall. Another thug ran at Dove, but he grabbed the golf club and used his foot to flip the guy over his head onto a pinball machine. Another one ran at Dove, but he spun around the thug and grabbed on his arm which Dove yanked behind the guy’s back then upward causing him pain.

“Now how about you calm down,” Dove said kindly, “and I’ll let you go.”

“How about you kiss my a-” began the guy before dove pulled upward hard causing him to cry out in pain. The head thug from earlier picked up a pool cue from behind dove and ran at him as he swung. However, Dove saw it coming and stepped back allowing him to hit his own man in the face. Hank grabbed him by his shirt and pulled the guy towards him. Before Hawk could do anything to the guy the door to the bar opened and two silhouettes appeared in the doorway. One was a man and then other was obviously a woman.

“You didn’t answer your summons,” Diana said accusingly.

“Look around princess,” Hawk said intending to be rude, “Had our hands full. Enough to go around if you want a piece.”

“Out,” Diana said in annoyance, “Now.”

“I’d do as she says,” Soron said, “If you don’t she’ll kick your asses.”

“I didn’t need any help,” Diana said with narrowed eyes at Soron.

“I know,” Soron said, “I was just offering them sound advice.”

Hawk looked at Dove who shrugged a “why not” which prompted Hawk to throw the thug to one side of the bar as he and Dove headed towards the exit.

**Meanwhile, at the Southern Kasnian paramilitary camp…**

A person that looked like a monk stood next to a general on the podium in front of some soldiers as he spoke.

“The Northern tribes have infested our mother land for too many generations,” the monk said, “Kasnia is ours by the blood of our fathers and our father’s fathers.”

The soldiers then began talking amongst themselves as the monk and the general looked on.

“Right now,” continued the monk, “They’re preparing a new weapon. A weapon with fearsome power.” 

“You’ve got to attack now!” the monk said as he held his staff up into the air for a second, “To protect your farms and your families from their vicious hands!”

The soldiers then raised their rifles up as they cheered their agreement. The general then signaled them to stop cheering.

“Move out!” the general ordered, “and may fortune be with you!”

The general then got into a jeep and led his troops off to the Northern Kasnian paramilitary encampment. Behind them the monk shapeshifted into Ares with an evil look of excitement.

**In the air…**

Soron flew the Invisible Plane to the mission’s location with Hawk and Dove in the two back seats as Wonder Woman flew next to them.

“What I don’t get is why Wonder Woman needs a plane if she can already fly,” Hawk said as he watched Diana fly next to them.

“Flying drains quite a bit of energy,” Soron said, “Just like superspeed. This plane allows her to conserve her energy.”

“Oh,” Hawk said then asked, “Why not just let them obliterate each other?”

“If people can’t control their own country,” Hawk finished, “They don’t deserve to have one.”

“Way to oversimplify,” Dove said, “These folks live in poverty and when you have so little it’s easy to be swayed into blaming your neighbor. Almost all aggression can be cured with education.”

“Yeah,” Hawk countered, “Then how come some of the best educated guys work at the pentagon?”

“Hawk has a point,” Soron said from the pilot’s seat before he looked down and asked, “What the hell is that thing?”

Soron then followed Diana to a safe spot to land the plane.

**On the ground…**

A entire army was firing at the Annihilator to take it down, but they weren’t having any success. It walked towards a jeep with a mountain chaingun and picked it up. However, the three soldiers were lucky enough to escape the jeep before it did so. The jeep crashed into a tank after the Annihilator threw it. The tank was lucky enough that it didn’t explode as well and just drove over the dead jeep as it fired a projectile at the Annihilator. When the tanks bullet made an impact it exploded, but the Annihilator just kept on walking forward as the tank fired again. It then punched downward on the tank causing the rear end to fly upwards a bit. All four of the heroes arrived on the scene in time to see it pick the tank up and prepare to throw it.

“Who is that?” Hawk asked, “Those people don’t stand a chance against him!”

“Hawk,” Diana said, “You’re with me.”

“That leaves you with me Dove,” Soron said before he blurred off with Dove right behind him to begin the process of disarming all of the soldiers on the battlefield.

Soron stopped in front of a man that was unarmed and down on the ground just in time to prevent the bullets from hitting him. The shooter looked at Soron and then down at his gun before he just threw it down and ran off.

“Smart choice,” Soron said as he used his laser vision to render the rifle useless. Dove on the other hand took the rifle from a soldier’s hands and cracked it over his knee.

“Both of you scram,” Dove said to the two soldiers before throwing the rifle to either side of him. 

The soldiers ran in a way that reflected that action as Dove watched them go with a smile. Both Soron and Dove’s attention was grabbed by the sound of clanking. When they looked over they saw the Annihilator run to a tank and smash it before running to the other one to backhand it in the air. It then continued walking till a big piece of rubble slammed into its face. It looked to where it came from and saw Hawk picking up another one. Hawk grunted as he threw it, and as soon as he did he ran to find another piece of rubble. Wonder Woman flew up behind it and grabbed it by the leg right after Hawk threw another piece of rubble at it. Wonder Woman then carried it up into the air and swung it around two or three times before letting go. The Annihilator then went flying towards a demolished building and crashed into a tower.

Hawk ran to a stop near it and Wonder Woman landed next to him just before the Annihilator began to pick itself out of the rubble. When it had stood up they saw the faceplate had opened and they were startled that there was nobody inside of it.

“There’s no one inside that thing!” Hawk said, “How do you fight that?”

“You hit it till it breaks,” Wonder Woman said. Then she flew at it while Hawk ran at it. 

However, the Annihilator grabbed a conveniently placed nearby tank and batted them away with it. As soon as they had pushed themselves into a sitting position the Annihilator had prepared to swing a tank down onto them. In the sunlight Diana saw a symbol that looked extremely familiar.

“Diana!” Soron yelled before he blurred over to them and got between them and the tank that the Annihilator was going to swing down on them. 

As soon as Wonder Woman grabbed Hawk and sped him away Soron blasted the Annihilator with his laser vision which caused it to stumble back. Soron took his chance to also retreat to where Wonder Woman was just As Dove got to them. The Annihilator then threw a tank at them, but Wonder Woman flew Soron, Dove, and Hawk into the sky and away from it.

“What are you doing?!” Hawk said angrily when she landed and let go of all of them, “you pulled us right out of battle!!”

“She just saved our lives Hank!” Dove said defending Diana.

“Two yards would’ve done that!” Hawk pointed out, “This is what’s called a retreat!”

“Shut up you two!” Soron barked, “Hawk why don’t you hear her side of the story before you condemn her!”

Hawk begrudgingly shut his mouth to the relief of Diana who nodded subtlety to Soron.

“There was no point in continuing,” Diana explained, “We were having no effect on that thing. If anything it was getting stronger.”

“It reminds me a little of the Destroyer armor,” Soron said thoughtfully catching their confused attention.

“It’s a suit of armor that doesn’t require a wearer,” Soron explained, “It’s nigh-invulnerable. It was created by the Asgardian gods to defend the hall of dangerous weapons or whatever the room is called. However, Loki and several other dickwads took control of the Destroyer and used it to attack Earth and the Avengers.”

“You lost me at Avengers,” Hawk said bluntly.

“The point is,” Soron said, “No matter what it was taken down. Everything has a weakness, and so does that.”

“But what is it?” Dove asked the question they were all thinking.

“I don’t know,” Soron said, “But for right now we need to focus on finding a way to stop this war.”

“If we can just get the two leaders to sit down together,” Dove said.

“Oh cause that happens all the time in these situations,” Hawk said sarcastically, “unless you want to just kidnap them and make them talk.”

“I wish,” Dove said sadly.

“Then go for it,” Diana said, “At least it’ll buy me some time.”

“Why?” Hawk asked, “What are you doing?”

“She has a theory on who made the armor,” Soron guessed.

“That’s right,” Diana confirmed, “And I’m going to go have a nice little chat with him. Soron’s in charge till I come back.”

“Him?!” Hawk objected, “But he doesn’t have a uniform and he spouts crazy shit!”

“Shut up Hawk,” Soron said sternly, “I do have a uniform and you’re looking at it. Also, I have lead a team many times before. Before I joined the League I was a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy which was a ragtag team of outcasts and misfits. I was their leader.”

“Guardians of the Galaxy?” Hawk said slowly, “Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“That’s because I spent most of my life out in space which is the Guardian’s turf,” Soron said as he began getting annoyed at Hawk, “Not a Earth-bound caveman like yourself.”

**Meanwhile, with Ares…**

“You let them go!” Ares said angrily as he walked up to the Northern Kasnian general, “Why didn’t you push ahead and take their camp?! They have enough arsenal there to launch an assault against the capital.”

“I have no designs on the capital,” the general said in irritation as he stood up, “We won Mr. Sera. The animals attacked and we ran them out of town.”

“I didn’t give you the Annihilator so you can run your enemies out of town,” Ares said angrier than before, “I gave you the Annihilator so you could annihilate them!”

“Forgive the insult sir,” the general said as he too got angry, “But you think like a South Kasnian.” 

“They want to destroy us all,” the general continued as he clenched his hand on a map, “but my brother’s and I only wish to keep our land. Perhaps I could take their camp, but the price would be too great. Shall I win a country, but massacre my people?”

“Yes you idiot!” Ares yelled furiously as he took several steps towards the general forcing him to lean backwards on the table to avoid Ares, “I think like a south Kasnian? Has it even entered your skull that they think like South Kasnians? And you better start thinking that way too if you want there to be a Northern left in this tat infested dirtheap you call a country! All any of you mortals are good for is to slaughter one another! To fight and fight until the bones of your enemies are strewn across the battlefield! Only to rise again in the next generation! Like a well tended crop! That’s what the Annihilator is for! But noooo! You’re using it to play tag!”

“You know what?” the general said angrily as he walked to his office’s door, “You’re crazy and I wash my hands of you. I’ll thank you to get out of my rat infested dirtheap now, and you can take your robot with you.”

“Better idea,” Ares said evilly as he magically changed back into his armor, “I stay, you go.”

**With Hephaestus…**

He was working on another project minding his own business when Wonder Woman arrived. Hephaestus somehow heard her even though she was silent in her arrival.

“I made that armor for your mother,” Hephaestus said as he turned around to stare at Diana., “Did she ever thank me? No. I love your mom, but she doesn’t have your build.”

“I didn’t come here to talk about my armor,” Diana said professionally, “There’s an armored suit fighting in Kasnia that needs no wearer and bears your mark.”

“The Annihilator,” Hephaestus said as he prepared to chisel into the chair he was working on.

“Then you did make it,” Diana said as she took a step forward.

“Who else does such fine work?” Hephaestus said, “Ares liked it.”

“Ares,” Diana practically spat, “Of course.”

“How do you stop it?” Diana asked.

“Ahhhh you knew to ask,” Hephaestus said, “I do leave a small weakness in each of my creations. An Achilles heel, if you will. It’s so no one ever gets too powerful.”

“You know what they say,” Hephaestus said, “Only Zeus is perfect.”

“And what’s the Annihilator’s weakness?” Diana asked.

“Diana,” Hephaestus chided, “you wouldn’t want me going around telling people the weakness in your armor, would you?”

Diana then grabbed him by the throat and threw him against a machine and then held him there with a fist raised back.

“With that attitude you’ll never figure it out,” Hephaestus said. Diana then let him glow slowly and walked off.

“Come back when you have more time!” Hephaestus called after her, “I’ll let that suit out a little!”

**Meanwhile, with Dove in the Northern Kasnian camp…**

It was now night time and a N. Kasnian Soldier looked outside of an open door As Dove came walking towards it, but before he could say more than “hey” Dove had covered his mouth.

“Sorry kid. You’ll have a headache later,” Dove said, “but on the bright side. If this works, you’ll live to see twenty.”

Dove then looked around before entering the building. Eventually he reached the general’s office and peeked inside. When he saw the general he walked in and stopped behind him.

“Don’t be afraid,” Dove said with a calming hand gesture as the general turned around, “My name is Dove. I’m not here to hurt you. I’d like you to come with me. It’s time to try a new path.”

“And what path is that?” the general asked.

“Peace,” Dove smiled.

“Mmm,” the general said with a strange voice, “Not really my thing.”

Flames them surrounded him and a second later Ares stood in his place.

“But if you’re into it,” Ares continued, “I can arrange for you to have eternal peace. After I’m done with you, that is.”

He then walked towards Dove with menacing intent.

**At the Southern Kasnian Camp…**

Hawk sped inside and kept speeding till he reached the general’s tent. He then stealthily walked inside and up to the general When the general woke up he widened his eyes and dropped his jaw in surprise at seeing Hawk there.

“Ever run away from home? Hawk said as he grabbed at the general, “It’s fun. You’ll love it.”

The next second later the general was gagged and bound as Hawk hoisted him onto his shoulder.

“My brother and me used to do it all the time,” Hawk said, “except he’d always wuss out and run home to mama.”

Suddenly, an explosion could be heard from outside of the tent. In fact multiple explosions could be heard which caused a panic.

Hawk quickly blurred out of there before the two soldiers who came in to warn the general could see him.

“General,” a soldier reported, “The northern forces are-”

He stopped talking when he and his buddy noticed the general had been tied up and gagged then left on the floor. In the meantime Hawk ran to the barbed wire fence then jumped over it and continued running till he stopped when he saw the battle that was taking place.

Both North and South Kasnian soldiers were firing everything they had at one another. For some reason they all had the horrid aim of the stormtroopers from star wars. Eventually some of the soldiers resulted to attacking their enemies by using their rifles as blunt instruments.

“I see Don’s social skills had their usual effect,” Hawk said before he saw Soron flying towards him till he crashed on the ground and created a crater as he slid across the ground. 

When Hawk looked down he saw that Soron was unconscious and had a vicious cut on his head which was bleeding. However, what acquired his full attention was the Annihilator. It had Dove tied to its chestpiece as a meat shield. In a fit of rage Hawk ran towards it evading explosions as he went. When he reached the Annihilator he jumped onto its shoulders and grabbed at its face from behind the head. He then pulled on the ropes freeing Dove’s wrists and feet. As Dove landed on the ground Hawk began to attempt at pulling the helmet/head off of the Annihilator’s body. While he was doing that  a soldier fired at an enemy soldier then looked to his right and saw Ares in his battle armor with his sword out walking towards batting aside whoever got close to him with an evil grin on his face.

The Annihilator pulled Hawk off of its shoulders and threw him down onto the ground before picking him up and throwing Hawk behind it towards a tree. Hawk pushed himself up a bit and glared at the Annihilator which just turned around and headed towards where the explosions were occurring. Hawk then ran after it completely ignoring the soldiers while Dove just took a few steps forward.

“Lay down your arms!” Wonder Woman ordered when she returned as she used her bracelets to block incoming bullets, “you’re being used!”

As soon as she had said that an explosion went off right next her. She looked around and saw all the carnage that was going on and then she saw Soron unmoving. Completely forgetting about the mission for a minute she flew towards him to check his condition. When she saw that he had a fractured skull and blood oozing out she glared towards the Annihilator knowing that it was the only thing capable of doing this to him. However, she also knew that attacking it, while therapeutic, would just make it stronger. 

While she stood back up Dove had disarmed a soldier that was about to throw a grenade. The Annihilator continued walking forward and not even the blockade of jeeps with mounted chainguns could slow it down. Once the soldiers had ran from their jeeps and the Annihilator Hawk swung a tree at it causing it to go flying. The Annihilator crashed on a tank which was quickly abandoned.  The Annihilator stood back up and turned around to pick up the tank Once it had the Annihilator threw it at Hawk who just ran forward to evade it. The Annihilator picked up the S. Kasnian general’s jeep causing the two soldiers to fall out of it. It raised the jeep with the intent to smash it down on top of the general, but dove blurred at him and took him out of there.

“Don’t let them take the camp,” the general said weakly before he fell unconscious, “Or else…”

Dove then ran off. On another part of the battlefield Wonder Woman watched helplessly as a soldier fired a bazooka at a jeep. She then flew over to a soldier and grabbed his shoulder.

“You must stop this,” Diana said now that she had his attention.

“I must do nothing!” the soldier said as he hit her face with the butt of his rifle, “I don’t take orders from women!”

Wonder woman turned her face back to look at him very similar to how the terminators do in the terminator franchise. She then glared at him and snatched the rifle out of his hands before raising it above her head. The soldier thought she was going to hit him with it, but instead she lowered it and bent it into a U before returning it. She realized what must be done.

“The Annihilator!” Diana yelled, “It’s fueled by our rage!”

The only one to hear her was Dove who turned to look at her. He then looked at the Annihilator which was still walking towards the S Kasnian encampment. The soldiers aimed their rifles at it in preparation to shoot. However, before they could attempt to shoot Dove ran in front of them with his arms raised.

“Lower your weapons!” Dove yelled. The soldiers elected to ignore him and kept their rifles trained on the robot.

“You don’t have a chance like that!” Dove continued fiercely as the Annihilator closed in on him, “So try it my way! Lower your weapons!”

The soldiers still ignored him and Dove turned around to see the Annihilator bearing down on him. He wasn’t afraid however, as he knew he was doing the right thing.

“Don!” yelled Hank with fear as ran towards him, but was stopped when Wonder Woman held him back.

“Let go of me!” Hawk said still afraid, “He’s weak! He’ll get himself killed! Don!”

As the Annihilator got closer to Dove, he didn’t do anything to defend himself much to Hawk’s terror. However, when the Annihilator reached him it looked down at him and raised its arm to pound him. To Hawk’s surprise it lowered its arm and shut down when the soldiers lowered their weapons. Dove let out a sigh of relief that Diana was right about the Annihilator’s weakness. Wonder Woman let go of Hawk while soldiers walked up behind them.

“Anybody want to give me a clue as to what just happened?” Hawk asked as he and Wonder Woman walked up to Dove.

“Sometimes it takes more strength not to fight,” Diana said prompting Dove and Hawk to look back at her. However, their attention was soon drawn to the approaching for of Ares who was furious.

“What’s the matter with you people?” Ares demanded, “Keep fighting! This is your chance to finish them!”

The soldiers just stared at him without raising their weapons again.

“Give it up Ares,” Diana said with her arms crossed acquiring his attention, “It’s over. You lose.”

“Alright,” Ares conceded unhappily, “This time, but I’ll be back and sooner than you think. Wherever there’s prejudice, ignorance, inequality I’ll be there.”

“And I’ll be waiting,” Diana replied menacingly. Ares then vanished in flames.

“You see,” Dove asked Hawk, “Doesn’t this prove exactly what I’ve been saying for a couple of years?”

“Couldn’t tell ya,” Hawk replied, “I do my best not to listen.”

“What?!” Dove exclaimed.

“And on another note,” Hawk said as he and Dove walked away, “Don’t go all Ghandi…”

However, the rest of his sentence went unheard as Hawk and Dove left the area. Behind Wonder Woman both sides of the Kasnian Civil War turned their backs to each other and went there own ways. Wonder Woman suddenly remembered Soron had been injured badly. She flew as fast as she could to Soron and picked him up for easier transportation to her Invisible Plane.

**Later, on the Watchtower…**

Soron slowly woke up with a headache and bandaged all over his head. Sitting right next to him on a chair with her head laying on his shoulder was Wonder Woman fast asleep. He didn’t want to wake her since she looked so peaceful, and decided to just lay there himself in silence. However, that proved fruitless as John Stewart walked into the room.

“Way to go today hotshot,” GL said, “You didn’t deviate from mission parameters and you followed your orders. You also led the team quite well while Wonder Woman was off investigating a theory. Though you did get yourself quite the gash on your head.”

“How did that happen?” Soron asked, “Bullets don’t harm me at all. Neither does dwarf star alloy blocks, but Taskmaster’s sword and the Annihilator can? I don’t understand it.”

“It’s the fact that they were both made by Gods,” Batman said as he walked into the room, “You must have a weakness for that kind of weaponry.”

“Oh great,” Soron said sarcastically, “I’m invulnerable to anything other than items created by Gods. That’s just fan-fucking-tastic.”

“I think it’s time you get a real costume,” Batman said, “One that is made out of material strong enough to repel any weapon made by any God.”

“Well,” Soron said as he laid his head back down, “If you don’t mind I’m going to go silent again. Don’t want to wake her from beauty sleep after all.”

“Smart,” GL said in respect before he and Batman left the room.


	11. Episode 4: This Little Piggy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana's turned into a pig. Batman allies with Constantine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used Constantine because he's easier for me to do than Zatarra. I had no idea what Zatanna was saying backwards in the actual cartoon, so I figured why not use one of my favorite arrowverse characters?

Episode 4: This Little Piggy

 

Batman, Wonder Woman, and Soron stood on a rooftop as they stared at the Natural Museum of History. Both Soron and Wonder Woman were getting impatient and restless. Wonder Woman sighed before walking closer to where Batman knelt. Soron just sat down on the roof as he fiddled around with his new suit that Batman fashioned with the help of Doctor Fate for him. It was black, had the Ravager symbol on his chest that he had on his belt buckle back when he was Star Lord, and had collapsable wings that allowed him to fly. On his face he had the same strapless mask he had earlier to hide his identity. The Ravager symbol was colored grey to ensure that the suit remain viable for stealth.

“Patience Princess,” Batman said without looking away from the museum, “Intergang moves in mysterious ways.”

“Then they should be called The Mysterions,” Soron quipped in boredom. Wonder Woman raised an eyebrow while Batman just ignored him.

“Tell me about it,” Diana said to Batman, “What use could they possible have for the Rosetta stone?”

“Maybe an archeologist hired them to steal it in order to help him translate something?” suggested Soron.

“Doubtful,” Batman said, “Archeologists love museums. If they wanted to use it to translate they would just come here.”

“So what’s your theory?” Soron asked not even caring that Batman shot down his theory.

“I don’t bother with theories,” Batman said, “We’ll find out what they’re up to soon enough, and in the meantime…”

“We know,” Diana and Soron said in unison, “patience.”

Wonder Woman’s gaze drifted to the Iceberg Lounge where a couple were heading towards a cab, and when they got to the cab they kissed before getting inside. Another couple also left the lounge but went walking down the sidewalk.

“Don’t you ever wish you were down there?” Diana asked in general.

“I’m down there all I need to be,” Batman said.

“Yes but it’s just a job to you,” Diana said as she looked back at the lounge, “I’m talking about going down there and having some fun.”

“I don’t have the time for fun,” Batman said bluntly.

“I would if I had someone to go with me,” Soron said as he stared at the lounge alongside Diana, “if she was special to me anyway.”

“Really?” Diana asked as she twirled some hair between her fingers.

“Dating within the team always leads to disaster,” Batman said suddenly, “You’re a Princess from a society of immortal warriors and Soron is an alien from another universe who will inevitably return when he can. Also, if your enemies knew you had someone special they had gotten to either one of you through your significant other. They already tried that with Soron a while ago.”

Diana then crushed a gargoyles head catching Batman’s attention, but before she could say anything the museum’s alarm went off. Batman, Wonder Woman, and Diana looked closely at the Museum to see what was happening.

“There!” Batman said as he pointed to a figure wearing a black outfit. He then grappled down to get to him or her. Wonder Woman and Soron just flew down to the ground. They got there just as the figure that was now obviously a woman turned around to look at them after Batman threw a batarang at an electrical box.

“Just a common thief,” Diana said, “What happened to intergang?”

“J’onn must’ve gotten a bad tip,” Batman said, “It happens.”

“I’ll take the crowbar,” Batman said as he held his hand out.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Soron said before he cringed now that he had seen some of Star Wars thanks to Kara.

“Whatever you say,” the lady said before throwing the crowbar at Batman. Shockingly, the crowbar turned into a snake as it flew at Batman. Batman dodged it just in time and watched it slither away after it landed on the ground.

“That trick always went over big in Egypt,” the lady said acquiring Batman’s attention before she summoned purple sparkles that changed her appearance into a woman with purple hair and green colored clothing that looked like it was from Ancient Greece.

“Circe!” Diana said as she got into a battle stance as both Soron and Batman did the same.

“Be careful she’s-” Diana began.

“Yeah,” Batman said before throwing batarangs, “I’ve read the Odyssey.”

“Uh,” Soron said, “What the crutack is a Circe?”

“An evil sorceress,” Diana replied, “Worst that Felix Faust.”

“Faust was an amatuer,” Circe said as she turned the batarangs into doves, “Such a disappointment really. He should’ve used his gifts for himself instead of serving that smarmy bastard Hades.”

“That it for you?” Circe asked as she caught a feather.

“What are you doing here witch?” Diana demanded, “You were banished!”

“They needed more space down below so they paroled me,” Circe explained, “Of course I had to promise to leave your mummy dearest alone before they’d let me out.”

“Mother sent her to the pits of Tartarus,” Diana explained, “Circe had a nasty habit of turning innocent people into animals.”

“I’m real good at it too,” Circe said evilly.

“So I’ve read,” Batman said.

“Is anyone wondering how she could know about Felix Faust if she was in the tartar sauce?” Soron asked.

“It’s Tartarus,” Diana said, “And yes. I would like to know that as well.”

“We’ll figure it out later,” Batman said, “Take her down”

Soron, Batman, and Soron then went in for the attack but Circe just kept smiling as she blasted both Batman and Diana back with some sort of spell.

“How’d you resist that?” Circe demanded with wide eyes.

“I don’t know,” Soron said, “But I guess that means I can take you down.”

Soron then punched at her, but suddenly the wall formed a hand and grabbed him and pulled him back as it did the same to Diana who had gotten up to attack Circe as well. Neither one of them were able to struggle out as it clenched its fists on them tightly as they were brought to her.

“I promised to leave your mother alone little Princess,” Circe said as she walked up to them, “But nobody said anything about you. Rest assured after I get done with you Hypolita won’t want you for a daughter. And your pointy eared eared boyfriend here won’t want your for anything. ”

“Let her go you bitch!” Soron snarled, “If you do anything to her I’ll crush those hands of yours before you can say ‘presto’.”

“You lucky girl,” Circe sneered, “You have two boyfriends. Doesn’t matter though, because it’ll be the same no matter what.”

She then raised her hand and used a spell on Diana and when both Soron and Batman looked they widened their eyes in horror.

**Meanwhile, in a magic show…**

A man stood next to three boxes which were in front of a wall that said Zatarra in big letters.

“My poor assistant,” a man in a magicians hat and outfit said, “He’s fallen to pieces.”

“Let’s see if I can help him pull himself together,” the man said as he began closing the boxes. He then put the box containing the torso on top of the box containing the legs and finally put the box with the head on top of that. He then waved a wand over the boxes summoning purple sparkles. When he opened the top box the feet were there.

“Oops,” the man said making the people laugh before opening the other two doors. The assistant was now back in one piece, but upside down. He then walked out of the box on his hands before letting his feet swing forward till they touched the stage floor. He then stood up and turned around before bowing. The audience began clapping and cheering.

“Thank you,” the man said, “You’ve been a wonderful audience.”

“And for my final illusion,” the man said as he took off his hat, “I’d like to pull a rabbit out of my hat.”

The audience were less excited about that idea as its been done a bazillion times.

“Trust me,” the man said, “It isn’t as easy as everyone thinks.”

He then reached into his hat as he said, “c’mon bugs. Where are you?”

Suddenly a giant hand came from the ceiling and reached towards a man sitting in the back row causing people to begin to freak out. It then pulled him up to the ceiling before vanishing. The next second later the man pulled his hand out of the hat and in his hand was the man that was pulled towards the ceiling.

“Well,” the man said, “You’re not as furry, but your just as small as a baby rabbit. Close enough I guess.”

He then placed the man down onto the ground before bringing out his wand as he said some sort of spell to return him to normal. The audience then began clapping and cheering again. Several of them threw pink roses at him.

“Flowers?” the man said raising an eyebrow, “I’m a guy… an apple would’ve been fine. Whatever, I’ll just make some myself.”

He then waved his wand over the roses turning them into apples before picking one up and biting into it before he bowed.

**Later, in his dressing room…**

He was sitting down reading the newspaper now in comfortable clothing. He slowly put the paper down before looking into a crystal ball to see how the day’s events went from another person’s eyes. He saw him putting his assistant into a box before spinning it and waving his wand. After he opened it again a blonde woman was in his place causing the audience to clap.

“Hmmm,” the man thought out loud, “A little slow on the switch. Gotta watch that.”

Then a shadow of a bat appeared causing him to look to the rear.

“What was it?” Batman asked, “Some kind of hologram, or was it the real thing?”

“It’s called sorcery Batman,” the man with narrowed eyes, “Now what are you doing in my dressing room?”

“I need your help,” Batman said.

“Not interested,” the man automatically replied, “Now go away.”

“I can’t deal with this on my own,” Batman admitted, “It’s more your area of expertise Zatarra.”

“Really?” Zatarra said with a raised eye, “Well, I can direct you to someone who might be willing to help you more than I am.”

“Fine,” Batman said, “Who is he?”

“His name is John Constantine,” Zatarra said as he pulled out a business card, “You can find him with this.”

“You have some real talent,” Batman said as he took the card, “You should consider the offer we gave you a whole back.”

“I’m not into playing hero,” Zatarra said, “But I guess I will consider it, but no promises.”

“Fair enough,” Batman said before leaving.

**At a back alley in Gotham…**

A man in a tan trench coat, white button down shirt, black suit pants, a red tie, and black dress shoes stood in front of a dead woman that had what looked like bear slash mark on her back. The man had blue eyes, sand colored hair, and had the shadow of a beard. In between his fingers was a cigarette which was smoking.

“Now then,” the man said in a Liverpudlian accent, “What kind of mystical monstrosity did this to you luv?”

He then knelt down and pulled out a stone and pressed it on her head. When he did he was suddenly her as she was running down the street. Every now and then she glanced behind her and saw a giant dog with red eyes and parts of its flesh missing revealing the skeletal structure behind. Its bones looked like they were made of tiny human skulls. The next second later he was back in his own body.

“Oh shite,” the man said before he brought his cigarette back to his mouth, “There’s a bloody Hellhound on the loose.”

He then walked away from the alley as he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He threw his cigarette through the sewage drain as he went.

_ “Yes John?” _ said a voice on the other end,  _ “What do you need?” _

“Chaz I need you in Gotham as fast as soon as possible,” John said.

_ “What’s going on?” _ Chaz asked.

“There’s a Hellhound on the loose mate,” John replied, “And its already claiming innocent living beings.”

_ “This is your attempt at humor right? _ Chaz asked nervously,  _ “Cause if it is, it’s not very funny.” _

“Do I sound like I’m having a laugh?” John said sternly, “Now get here as soon as possible and bring the cross of St. David while you’re at it.”

_ “On my way,” _ Chaz said before John ended the call.

He didn’t make it five steps before his phone began ringing again. He rolled his eyes before looking at the caller ID. When he saw it said “unknown caller” he narrowed his eyes and answered it immediately.

“Stop calling me you bloody scammer or I’ll curse you,” John nearly spat.

_ “John Constantine,” _ Batman said,  _ “I’m not a scammer.” _

“Really?” John said, “Well I’m not apologizing. Now who are you, and what the bloody hell do you want?”

_ “I’m Batman,” _ Batman said,  _ “And I need your help.” _

“Well,” John said, “You’re shit out of luck mate. I’m currently trying to find a Hellhound that is sending people’s souls to Hell.”

_ “This is me asking nicely,” _ Batman said,  _ “The least you can do is listen to my request.” _

“Fine,” John groaned, “But don’t get your hopes up mate. Where can I find you?”

_ “Look up,” _ Batman said.

“Stalking me is not a very smart idea Batman,” John said as he looked up. Batman then jumped down from the building and landed in front of Constantine as the batmobile drove up to them.

“I wasn’t,” Batman said, “I merely stumbled onto your location.”

“Hmpf,” John said, “So what’s your request.”

Batman then opened the batmobile door and Constantine raised an eye when he saw a pig staring at them.

“That’s a pig mate,” John said, “Are you taking the piss?”

“I’m not drunk,” Batman said, “Circe turned Wonder Woman into a pig and walked off with another Leaguer who hasn’t decided on a name yet.”

“Circe?!” John said in shock, “Well why didn’t you say so? Circe is far worse than any Hellhound!”

“I never even knew Hellhounds were real before today,” Batman said with a raised eyebrow, “So how would I have known?”

“Can’t argue with that,” Constantine said, “Turning anyone into animals or animals into humans isn’t really my area of expertise.”

“So you’re not going to help?” Batman asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Since Circe is involved I will,” Constantine said as he turned around, “But I can’t promise that I’ll be successful. Follow me and bring the swine with you.”

**Later, at the House of Mystery…**

Constantine and Batman walked into the house with Wonder Pig being carried in Batman’s arms.

“Wait here,” Constantine said, “I have to go get some supplies before even attempting to return the sow to her original form.”

After Constantine returned he put down a quilt that had a type of pentagram on it. He then put candles down on the four corners.

“Put her in the middle,” Constantine said as he clasped his hands together in preparation.

“I call upon the Japanese Boar God Nago!” Constantine chanted, “I ask that you lend me your assistance!”

“ Kono josei o kanojo no ningen no sugata ni modosu,” continued Constantine.

Suddenly, a flash of light came from Wonder Pig, but when the light had ebbed away Wonder Pig… was still a pig.

“Bollocks!” Constantine cursed, “That was the strongest spell I knew to turn a pig back into a human. Circe must’ve somehow gotten stronger during her time in Tartarus. Strong enough to overwrite a god’s power.”

“Isn’t Circe said to be a goddess?” Batman asked.

“Hardly,” Constantine said, “She’s the daughter of Hecate, and was driven mad by her need to dominate. Didn’t help that the magic fried her brain the first time she used it. Only reason she’s assumed to be a goddess is cause she ate the ambrosia of the gods. It gave her immortality and strengthened her powers, but back in the day it wasn’t as strong as it was now.”

“So how can we turn her back?” Batman asked as he knelt by Wonder Pig.

“Only thing I can think of is asking that tosser Doctor Fate to do it,” Constantine said, “In which case we part here.”

“No,” Batman said, “Besides I promised a friend of mine not to let any other Leaguer know… right before Circe vanished with him.”

“She his girl then?” Constantine asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” Batman said as he stood up, “But they’re both head over heels for one another. Diana doesn’t know he loves her though. She even doubts it.”

“In that case,” Constantine said, “I guess we’ll have to force Circe to turn her back.”

“Fine by me,” Batman said, “How do we do it?”

“Step one,” Constantine said, “We find the bitch.”

“And step two?” Batman asked.

“I’ll let you know when I know,” Constantine said, “Get yourself something to eat while I use one of the souls Circe had cursed a long time ago to find her location.”

**Meanwhile, at a theater…**

Six men in suits were kneeling as the looked up some stairs which then suddenly had a spotlight shine on the top.

“Gotta get your ol’ tuxedo pressed,” sang Circe as she walked forward in a red dress, “gotta sew a button on your vest, cause tonight you got to look your best. Lulu’s back in town.” 

“Gotta get a half a foot somewhere,” she continued as she fell into a guy’s arm before being launched towards another guy. “

Gotta shine your shoes and slick your hair,” she said as she rubbed on a guys hair with her hand before she began pulling a rose out of his suit,  “Gotta get this guy a boutonniere cause Lulu’s back in town.”

“You can tell the mailman not to call,” Circe continued as she danced, “You ain’t coming home until the fall and you may not get back home at all! Lulu’s back in town!”

**Back with Batman…**

Batman had just finished eating a granola bar when Constantine stormed out of room in anger.

“Damn it!” Constantine yelled.

“What’s the matter?” Batman asked.

“The damned souls don’t have the connection to her aura they once had,” Constantine explained, “So unless you have any other ideas, we’re all buggered.”

“Then I say it’s time we use one of my tricks,” Batman said as he headed towards the door.

“Oh and what’s that mate?” Constantine asked as he sucked Wonder Pig into a enchanted puch which had a plain inside full of herbivores.

“We find a snitch,” Batman said.

**Later, in the Underworld…**

Batman, Constantine, and a blonde woman in white with a cloth over her eyes stood on a rocky shore next to a river. In her right hand was a sword and the other had a scale.

“Thanks for setting this up love,” Constantine said as he kissed the woman’s hand.

“I did it for Batman,” the woman said moving her hand away quickly, “The League has done much good in my name, so how could I refuse?”

“Here comes our stooly,” Batman said breaking up the conversation. They looked towards the river and sure enough a man in a dark robe was using a pole to move a boat down the river styx to their location. In the boat was a figure in a brown ragged robe.

“Don’t look at her directly,” the woman said as Constantine covered his eyes as Batman did the same. When the boat came to a stop, the figure stepped out and onto the shore. She then removed her head revealing hair that were actually snakes, and had a snake-like complexion to her face as well.

“Medusa,” said the blonde woman, “You’ll have a chance to earn leniency if you help out our visitors.”

“You were Circe’s cellmate weren’t you?” the woman continued.

“Sure we did some time together back in the Pit of Eternal Torment,” Medusa confirmed before she sneered, “That’s where they hang you by your ankles and weasels come each night to eat your fingers.”

“They grow back the next day,” Medusa continued, “But trust me. It gets old real quick.”

“Did she ever mention the Queen of the Amazons,” constantine asked, “What was her name again?”

“Hypolita,” Batman said.

“Ah yes,” Constantine said, “That lass.”

“Are you kidding?” Medusa said in annoyance, “Hypolita, Hypolita, Hypolita. All the time Hypolita. Want to get my hands on her. Yadda yadda yadda.”

“That much we know,” Batman said, “We’re wasting our time.”

As Batman and Constantine Medusa gained a panicked expression.

“Wait,” Medusa panicked as she grabbed Batman’s shoulder, “Wait! There was one other thing.”

“Circ was always saying she wanted to headline at the amphitheater,” Medusa said as she moved her arm back now that Batman had stopped leaving. When Batman and Constantine didn’t reply she continued, “The amphitheater. On Mykonos duh. Seems Circ was wicked jealous of her sisters of her cousins, the sirens, and swore she’d someday get her turn on the grandstand. Sophocles got a start there, Ephestofanes, all the big names. You know those statues at the entrance?”

“Mine,” she added proudly.

The blonde woman(i’m going to guess that’s Lady Justice) held her scale up and when one side became lower than the other she said, “Thank you Medusa, and know that you’ve earned three hundred years off your sentence.”

“Freedom in 4010,” Medusa said neither pleased nor pissed while holding a finger up, “ring a ding ding.”

She then got back onto the boat, and then Charon held his hand up patiently.

“Uh,” Lady Justice said, “There’s a small service charge.”

Batman then reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out two bronze coins. As soon as Batman had given them to him, Charon resumed his trek down the river Styx.

“When you see Circe,” Medusa called back, “tell her I want my curling iron back.”

**Later…**

Constantine and Batman were now on Mykonos in front of an amphitheater. Over the doorway were two statues of people afraid.

“Have to admit that Medusa’s a good sculpturist,” Constantine said as they looked up at the statues.

“Too good,” Batman said before running into through the doorway with Constantine not far behind him.

**Inside the amphitheater…**

Circe was on a stage at a microphone and sitting at tables there were men clapping for her. All of them except one man in a cloak that stood against the wall like a bodyguard would.

“Thank you,” Circe said, “Thank you. You’ve been all so kind to me tonight. You know my cousins, the sirens, never thought I could sing. Really, they thought they were all that with their charm and sailors routine, but I’m showing them aren’t I.”

The men just stared at her completely silent without clapping at all. That pissed her off, so she gave them a vicious face. That prompted them to start clapping for her immediately.

“Ah,” Circe said pleased again, “Thank you. I love you all! Are there any requests?” 

“How about you and I go to the back and shag till morning?” said a Liverpudlian voice.

“Sorry,” Circe said, “But humans aren’t my type.”

Suddenly, some bottles and tables went flying at her knocking the microphone stand down. When she looked at who was attacking her she saw Batman next to John Constantine who using an Aztec holy item to throw objects at her.

“Insolent trickster!” Circe said angrily.

“You dare to strike-” Circe began but was interrupted by a chair hitting her.

“You dare to strike-” Circe began again before she was hit again by a table.

“You dare to strike-” Circe began a third time before a tablecloth wrapped itself on her face.

“Quit it!” Circe barked and then gained a look of utter terror and said, “Oh no.”

A piano proceeded to ram into her and knock her down pinning her. The next second later the piano exploded into green smoke and Circe was now wearing her greek outfit and floating in the sky. She then looked towards the men who she had brought to Mykonos unwillingly.

“Well,” Circe ordered, “Defend your mistress.”

She then used her magic to turn one into a panther, another into a tiger, a third into a goat, a fourth into a wolf, a fifth into a boar, and a sixth into a bear. All of them looked furious and ready to attack. They then all leapt on Batman.

Batman held his arms up to keep the tiger from biting down on him. As he did so he glanced at a wall and saw a man in a cloak just standing there. He then used his feet to kick the tiger off of him, and in the process got back onto his feet. The others ran at him, and while they neared him he threw down smoke pellets. He used his grapnel gun and zipped up into the air just as the animals reached where he was fell unconscious. In the meantime Constantine had to dodge out of the way as the panther leapt at him. The panther did it again, but this time just sat there. Before the panther could do anything else the table turned into a cage around the panther. Suddenly, a card popped out of nowhere into Constantine’s hand. The card said “Now you owe me Constantine. John Zatara.”

“Cheeky sod,” Constantine said as he ripped up the card. He then turned around and ran over to Batman.

“You’re both beginning to remind me of Sisyphus after a hard day pushing his boulder up the mountain,” Circe said as she floated in the air laying down.

“But me,” Circe continued as her hands glowed with purple magical energy, “I could keep this up all night!”

“You might want to change your mind on that love,” Constantine said, “Magic always has a price. Any could sorcerer, mage, or sorceress worth their weight in gold knows that.”

“And your point is?” Circe asked.

“You have already paid a lot of prices doing all you did tonight,” Constantine said, “Are you sure that you want to pay another one tonight? This one might be permanent. Even one with your ambrosia gifted enhancements has a limit on how much prices can be loopholed.”

“You have a point,” Circe shrugged as she let her magical energy dissipate and floated down to the ground, “So in that case I’ll have my slave kill you instead. He’s a lot more tough than a few animals. Kill them.”

Suddenly the person in the cloak was right in front of them and grabbed them. Then he threw them across the room. He proceeded to fire green lasers from his eyes which Batman and Constantine deflected with some platters they found next to them. The cloaked man then blurred at them and clapped his hands in their faces sending them flying into a couple of tables. Batman had a sneaking suspicion of who it was so he stealthily pulled out a device. Just before the cloaked man could attack again, he pressed it and suddenly the man fell down as electricity burst from the suit incapacitating him.

“Oh that was no fair,” Circe said frowning.

“You know what else isn’t fair luv?” Constantine said as he pulled out a mirror, “I have the one thing that can rid the world of your evil forever.”

“That isn’t…” Circe said as she gulped in fear.

“Aye luv,” Constantine said, “This mirror belonged to Helen of Troy. It was enchanted to lessen the effects she of her blessing. Didn’t work in the long run of course, but it is permanent when used against you.”

“Let’s make a deal,” Circe suggested quickly.

“What kind of deal?” Batman asked.

“I’ll return the sow to what she used to be and lift the spell I put your friend under,” Circe offered, “and in return… you let me keep my magic?”

Batman narrowed his eyes at her for a few minutes to unnerve her.

“Deal,” Batman said prompting Circe to sigh in relief before she used her magic to free Soron from the mind control she put him under. As soon as she did that Soron stood up and tore the cloak off.

“Now,” Batman said as Constantine pulled out the pouch and and dropped Wonder Pig onto the floor, “turn her back.”

“Yes yes yes,” Circe said rudely while she rolled her eyes, “Just be patient.”

Then she zapped Wonder Pig and the next second later Wonder Pig was back as Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman blinked twice before she realized something was wrong. She was completely naked with the exception of her bracelets. She quickly squealed as she hid her breasts and knelt down to hide her parts.

“Here ya go,” Soron said kindly as he placed a table cloth around her shoulders. Diana looked at him with a grateful expression before Soron pulled her to him and embraced her.

“Now will you please put that infernal thing away?” Circe demanded nervously.

“Constantine,” Batman said. Constantine pretended to put it away before he aimed the mirror side at Circe and suddenly her magic began getting drained. She screamed the whole time as the process caused her extreme pain.

“Constantine!” Batman yelled as he turned towards him, “We made a deal!”

“You made the deal mate,” Constantine said, “I didn’t. Besides, the bitch is too dangerous with her magic.”

When Constantine had finished, Circe fell to the ground and twitched as the pain continued albeit in smaller proportions.

“You dishonorable little-” Batman began before he was cut off by Constantine.

“This was always my plan mate,” Constantine said, “Nobody wants to buy Circe when she has her magic.”

“You were going to sell her off?!” Diana said disgusted, “You evil man!”

“I do whatever I have to in order to undamn myself from hell!” Constantine snapped, “If it means sell some evil bitch when she’s powerless to defend herself, then I’ll do it! Oh and don’t worry Princess! I’m not selling her into slavery. I’m selling her to Hades who’ll put her back where she belongs. Consider it as bounty hunting.”

“I thought she made parole,” Diana said skeptically.

“Hades never lets anyone out on parole,” Constantine snorted, “She had his balls in a vice. Now that she’s powerless that won’t be happening again.”

“I’ll still keep my eye on you,” Batman said narrowing his eyes as he crossed his arms, “Now get us back to the batmobile.”

“Hope to see you never again,” Constantine said before throwing a crystal ball on the ground which emitted smoke. The next second later Batman, Soron, and Diana stood next to the batmobile.

“I have your clothes in here Diana,” Batman said as he opened a side compartment on the vehicle.

“Thanks Bruce Diana said as she graciously accepted them when Batman gave them to her.

“Bruce,” Soron said when Diana went behind a dumpster to put her clothes on.

Batman looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“I saw everything that I did while Circe had me under her spell,” Soron said as he narrowed his eyes, “How did that burst of electricity take me down?”

“I installed a tasering mechanic in your suit which Fate enchanted,” Batman explained.

“You gave me a suit just so you could be able to take me down!” Soron all but yelled.

“I had to consider any eventuality,” Batman said calmly, “That was my contingency plan should you ever turn against the League or humanity. Good thing I did it too, otherwise you’d still be Circe’s slave and the world would be her audience.”

“Bruce,” Soron said as he tried to stay calm, “Next time you decide to add something to anything you give me that can specifically take me down, tell me. If you don’t… I’ll never even consider trusting you again. Now go before I punch your head off, and I’m really itching to hit something right now.”

As Batman sped off in his batmobile Diana walked up to Soron and grabbed his hand. Soron looked at Diana and didn’t say a word.

“Let it go,” Diana said in a calming tone, “After the Thanagarian invasion can you really blame him for taking precautions? Besides, you’re almost as powerful as Superman. You could destroy the world if you wanted to or if someone forced you to.”

“I just hate getting betrayed by my friends and allies,” Soron grunted, “I never blamed Gamora because I had the hots for her, so I guess that’s why I didn’t understand why you hate Shayera after her betrayal at the time. I do now though.”

“Come on,” Diana said, “Let’s go have a nice normal night to get our minds off of the day’s events.”

“Yeah,” Soron said, “Okay. In Chicago though. I need to get as far away from Batman as possible.”

“Sounds fair,” Diana smiled before she and Soron took off into the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think the connection between Circe and Felix Faust will ever be explained further, because to be honest. one would forget about that little bit of the conversation after the days events. lets just assume that she went into Faust's mind and got him obsessed the mystic arts. maybe as a kid or while in college. i don't care which you put as your personal head cannon.


	12. Interim III Part 1: The Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron meets Slade and then Oliver. Soron gets a surprise birthday party. Soron practically announces his feelings for Diana. Vigilante makes an appearance. So does Kara. The entire original six members attend. Soron and Bruce mend their friendship. Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe attend the party. a crisis begins.

Interim III Part 1: The Birthday

 

It had been three months since Diana had turned into a pig then restored. Right now Soron was laying in the master bedroom with the covers half on him and half off. Soron slowly woke up in bed and stretched before sitting up. He slowly got out of bed and walked to his closet. He looked through his suit and ties, and sighed before picking one out as they all looked the same. Once he was clothed he went downstairs and into the dining room where Stanley had already made some french toast and put it on the table. He sat down at the table and began eating his supper alone as Diana had been making amends with her mother and then in another galaxy alongside Superman and some guy called Hal Jordan, and recently she has been training her new sidekick, a girl called Cassie Sandsmark. Apparently, Cassie had become a pre-teen while on Themyscira since Soron and Diana had last seen her when she had returned to being an infant after Kronos had been sent through a crack in space and time.

When Soron finished he got up and left a note for Stanley saying he might not be home in time for supper and to take the evening off. He then headed towards the door and when he reached it he put his hand on the handle. However, he paused after that and placed his head on the door. Once a few seconds had passed he opened it and blurred his way to the WayneTech building. Later when he entered his office he was surprised to see someone standing there. The person was a man and had dark hair, but some of it was going grey near his eyes. The person also wore a black business suit, and was staring out of the window that allowed Soron to stare at the city every now and then.

“Uh,” Soron said unsure as to why the stranger was here, “Can I help you?”

“Mr. MacLeod,” the man said as he turned around revealing a face with a short beard and a mustache connected to it. He also had an eyepatch over his right eye.

“It is I that can help you,” the man continued.

“Really?” Soron said with a raised eyebrow, “Who the heck are you?”

“My name is Slade Wilson,” the man replied.

“Okay, Slade,” Soron said, “Well how can you help me?”

“I can help you by telling not to trust Oliver Queen,” Slade said as he headed towards the door.

“Who the hell is that?” Soron asked in confusion, “and why shouldn’t I trust him.”

“You’re about to meet him,” Slade replied, “and you shouldn’t trust him, because he’ll betray you, kill the woman you love, and stab you in the eye with an arrow.”

“That’s a bit vivid,” Soron gulped, “Well thanks for the warning Mr. Wilson.”

“You’re very welcome,” Slade said before exiting the office.

“That was weird,” Soron said to himself as he walked to his desk and sat down. He then paged his secretary and asked through the phone, “Nancy am I expecting any visitors today?”

“Yes sir,” Nancy replied, “An Oliver Queen is supposed to meet you today to discuss a joint venture involving his company, Queen Consolidated.”

“How come I didn’t hear of this till now?” Soron asked frowning.

“The memo just came in this morning from Bruce Wayne himself,” Nancy replied.

_ Asshole, _ Soron thought as he let go of the button on the phone. He was still pissed that Batman would go behind his back to install a way to take him down. It really was a breach of trust. Eventually, a man wearing a black suit and tie walked in. The man looked around till he saw Soron at his desk. The man looked like Stephen Amell from the hit tv series Arrow.

“Hello,” the man said when he walked over and held out his hand, “My name is Oliver Queen, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Soron MacLeod,” Soron said as he stood up and shook Oliver’s hand, “I would say the same to you, but I had just found out you were coming. I hate being blindsided, and Bruce and I came to a disagreement a while back.”

“Understandable,” Oliver said as he gestured to the seat, “May I?”

“Please,” Soron said pleased that Oliver was at least polite.

“Thank you,” Oliver said.

“So,” Soron said getting to the task at hand, “What is the joint venture you’re here to propose?”

“PalmerTech had come to Queen Consolidated a while ago,” Oliver explained, “We had come to an agreement to work together on something, and we hoped you would hear what we had to offer.”

“Let me stop you right there,” Soron said, “This isn’t the same offer that PalmerTech came to Wayne Tech to talk about is it?”

“No,” Oliver said, “But the two aren’t mutually exclusive.”

“Okay then,” Soron said, “Please do tell me your offer, and I won’t interrupt you again.”

“Thank you,” Oliver said as he pulled out a device. When he pressed a button on it a hologram appeared.

“We all know that things have come to Earth before,” Oliver said, “Aliens, meteors, etc. What we propose is that we combine our efforts to make the job of the Justice League a little less strenuous. Sure, they have recruited several other heroes into their ranks to do just that, but even then it is more than likely a stressful job. The device we propose will, in time, be able to target incoming meteors and warn us accordingly so they can prepare. Should that not work the device would also act as a shield and bounce the meteor towards any black holes that exist in space.”

“Interesting,” Soron asked, “But what else can it do?”

“It would be able to connect with the device Wayne Tech and PalmerTech are currently in the process of constructing,” Oliver explained, “and when it is, the device’s power would spread around the whole Earth benefitting all.”

“That…” Soron said slowly, “is actually very good. However, I’m not the one with power on deciding what can and can’t be done using Wayne Tech resources.”

“As CEO you should be,” Oliver said with a raised eyebrow as he shut down the device.

“This job of mine is only temporary,” Soron explained, “At least till he finds someone can do this job better than me.”

“Well you’re always welcome to work at Queen Consolidated when the time comes,” Oliver said.

“I don’t do science or tech,” Soron said, “I’ll use the tech, but damned if I’ll understand how they get built or the science behind it.”

“Fair enough,” Oliver said as both he and Soron stood up, “I hope Mr. Wayne accepts this proposal.”

“Have a good day Mr. Queen,” Soron said as he shook Oliver’s hand.

“You too,” Oliver replied before he headed towards the door.

“Oliver,” Soron said after a minute, “do you know a man by the name of Slade Wilson?”

“No,” Oliver said as his eyes suddenly went cold, “Why?”

“He came by here today,” Soron said, “He told me not to trust you. He also gave a very vivid reason not to.”

“Well,” Oliver said with a smile, “I assure you that I can be trusted.”

“Okay then,” Soron said, “Good day.”

“Good day,” Oliver said in return before leaving the office.

**Later, on the way home…**

He had taken the rest of the day off as he had nothing to do at WayneTech. However, he felt like walking the way home cause he didn’t really want to get there and have nothing to do. Stanley wouldn’t be there to greet him either as Soron had given him the day off. Soron had thought that he would be in meetings all day, but for some reason all of them had been cancelled on that day. Suddenly, he saw a car speeding down the road with police vehicles in close pursuit. He figured that even though he was in the middle of a crowd he could get out of sight and then use his laser vision to take out the wheels of the getaway car. However, that proved unlikely as there was nowhere for him to sneak away to. Suddenly, the car skidded to a stop right before The Arrow did a superhero landing onto the roof of the car. He pushed his way through the crowd and ran as fast as humanly possible to get there. Of course he could run a lot faster, but he didn’t feel like revealing who he was.

“Get out of the car and surrender your weapons,” the Arrow said with a voice modulator while aiming an arrow at them.

“Screw you man!” yelled one of the goons as he aimed an AK-47 at the Arrow and fired. However none of the bullets had hit him as Soron had grabbed all the bullets before returning to his prior position without slowing down his speed. Unknown to him someone saw him drop the bullets into a sewer grate as he pretended to tie his shoes.

“What the fuck?!” cried out the goon.

“I won’t ask again,” the Arrow said, “Surrender now!”

“Okay!” the goon said as he dropped the rifle out the window before stepping out and putting his hands up. Thee other goon reluctantly did the same.

“Put your hands on your head!” yelled an officer as he walked up allowing the Arrow to fire a grapnel arrow into the sky and zip up into the air.

Soron then promptly turned and resumed his way home as the excitement for the day had ended.

**Later, at the mansion…**

As soon as Soron entered the front entrance a lot of people popped out of nowhere and shouted, “Surprise!”

“Huh?” Soron said in confusion, “What’s going on?”

“Oh come on Soron,” said Wally as he sped up, “Don’t they have birthdays where you come from?”

“Yes,” Soron said still confused, “But on Xandar we only ever celebrated the day we became fifteen. That was also the day we became a grunt in the Nova Corp.”

“Well now you’re going to have a proper birthday,” Diana said walking down the stairs. 

Everyone, even the women, dropped their jaws as she did so. Diana was a sight to behold. She wore a black dress that glittered in the light. The dress allowed her right leg to be seen and showed off her cleavage in a way that wasn’t slutty but wasn’t conservative either. She had her hair up in a bun with two japanese chopsticks keeping the bun up. She had put on black lipstick and had put black eyeliner around her eyes. She also had two black star earrings. in her ears instead of white stars or pearls.

“Uh… duh… um… uh,” Soron said stupidly as his brain just wouldn’t let him form words.

“Wow,” said a man, “he’s become addle-headed.”

“You’re not in costume,” said a woman’s voice, “so please stop using that western slang stuff?”

“Fine,” sighed the man.

“Soron,” Diana said as she raised an eyebrow at Soron’s gaping face, “You awake or are you think dirty thoughts of me?

“Uh hi Diana,” Soron suddenly said, “Is it me or has it suddenly become hot in here.

“Come on,” Diana said laughing internally, “it’s your birthday party so join it.”

“Why’d you dress up?” Soron asked confused again, “Are you going on a date with someone later?”

“Oh I thought I’d surprise someone after the party,” Diana said looking intentionally at Soron.

“Who?” Soron asked not getting it, “Bruce? I know you and he had gained some feelings for each other prior to the Thanagarian invasion, but after that… you two don’t act like it at all.”

Diana only rolled her eyes at the fact that Soron is just like any other man even if he is vastly different to anyone she ever met.

“Heya Soron,” said a blonde girl with a ponytail who was wearing glasses, a blue sweatshirt, jeans, and some running shoes.

“Do I know you?” Soron asked.

“Ya know,” the girl prompted, “Kara Danvers.”

Soron stared blankly before it dawned on him as to who she was. Unfortunately the memory that first popped up was when he accidentally saw her in all her glory which prompted him to get red in the face.

“Did you two…” Diana asked as she narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

“No!” both Kara and Soron said in unison, “We would never… no.”

“Then what’s with his face going red?” Diana asked causing Kara to go red in the face.

“I kind of…” Soron began nervously, “Ummm…”

“We had an extremely awkward first encounter,” Kara said quickly, “One we’d rather not talk about ever again.”

“Okay then,” Diana said a little satisfied, but she had every intention to get down to the bottom of it. However, that was a task for another time and day.

“Excuse me ladies,” Soron said, “I’m going to get into something more comfortable.”

Soron then hurried up to his room without using his speed and then returned wearing jeans, a white t-shirt, and a jean jacket. When he had returned Diana was off talking to one of the women while Kara was off talking to one of the girls her age. Soron then walked over to the refreshment table.

“So hotshot,” said a familiar voice from his left. When Soron looked to his left he saw John Stewart wearing a black shirt and a tan pair of khakis.

“Just how old are you now?” John asked.

“Using your Earth years…” Soron said as he thought, “75 years old.”

“Say what?” John said a but loudly as he wasn’t expecting that answer.

“Using Earth years I’m 75 years old,” Soron repeated.

“You look like you’re at least in your 20s,” John said still not comprehending.

“Xandarians have… had a longer lifespan than humans,” Soron explained, “and combined with Xandar’s longer days we had the same number of days humans do in a year. So using Xandar’s years I’m 25,” Soron said, “So you’re not entirely wrong.”

John Stewart walked away as he tried to comprehend what Soron was sayin as he never had occasion to ask how old superman was or how long his species lived.

“Xandar’s basically another Krypton then,” Clark said as he walk up to Soron’s right catching his attention, “Sorry. Couldn’t help overhearing. I’m keeping my super hearing activated in case someone needs my help.”

“Would explain why my abilities are so similar to yours,” Soron surmised.

“Indeed,” Clark agreed.

“Doesn’t explain why I’m the only one of my species that has ever acquired powers that didn’t come from technology though,” Soron frowned, “The only powers we all had in common was our fairly high endurance.”

“You’ll figure it out eventually,” Clark said, “so how do you like the party?”

“I don’t know,” Soron admitted, “This is my first ever party.”

“Well,” Clark said, “I hope you’ll have fun soon. Lois is being needy. I do sometimes wish women weren’t so needy.”

“Heard that,” Soron said in agreement catching Clark’s attention.

“What?” Soron shrugged, “I know some of the Earthling slang.”

Clark just shrugged a “why not” and headed off to find Lois.

“We need to talk,” said a familiar brooding voice from behind Soron. Soron’s mood was infinitely soured by that.

“What do you want, Wayne?” Soron asked sourly without turning to look at him.

“To talk. Now,” Bruce replied before walking off. Soron grumbled as he complied with Bruce’s quote-on-quote request.

When they had reached a secluded area Bruce turned to look at him.

“You were right to demand that I tell you of the countermeasure I put in your suit before giving it to you,” Bruce said with a great deal of stress, “And I betrayed your trust. I promise I will do my best to start being more trustful again.”

“I don’t care that you’re not a trusting person,” Soron said, “In fact it’ll probably be what saves the day some time in the future. However, I had trusted you entirely and didn’t even consider that you would do such a thing. So, I guess I’m mainly at fault for the way I acted towards you.”

“We good?” Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” Soron sighed, “We’re good.”

“Good,” Bruce said internally relieved, “Go ahead and return to the party.”

“What are you going to do?” Soron asked a raised eyebrow.

“I came to retrieve something of mine,” Bruce said, “That and talk to you.”

“Go on then,” Soron said performing a shooing motion, “Leave me to the hyenas.”

Bruce only raised an eyebrow at that before walking off and Soron walked back to the party. As soon as Soron had returned Wally appeared right next to him.

“What’s up Soron my man,” Wally said.

“Nothing much,” Soron shrugged.

“Don’t be jealous. He’s just an old friend,” said a familiar woman’s voice. When Soron looked to his right he saw Sara Lance walking up to him with another blonde woman that was a little taller alongside her.

“How’s it going Star Lord?” Sara asked as she brought a martini glass up to her mouth.

“That’s not who I am anymore,” Soron said, “Star Lord is dead. I’ve become someone else. Something else. Just not sure who that is yet.”

“Ray recently made contact with me,” Sara said with a serious expression, “Apparently you need my help?”

Soron blinked twice in confusion before he remembered his chat with Ray.

“Oh yes that,” Soron said, “Diana’s safe now. All good. Why did it take this long for Ray to get into contact with you?”

“I was busy defending a town from an organization called Hive,” Sara replied, “Nasty bastards. Led by a sadistic man named Damien Darhk.”

“Oh,” Soron said, “Well there is something you can help me with if you’re willing.”

“What’s that?” Sara asked.

“The man who had abducted Diana,” Soron said quietly, “He’s from my Earth. He somehow arrived in this Earth, and I want to know how he did it. As well as where he arrived.”

“Parallel universe huh,” Sara said, “Well that explains a lot. I’ll do what I can, but that stuff isn’t really my forte.”

“Then maybe it’s time to form a new team,” Soron said, “Use them to investigate inter-dimensional tears in reality and take down whatever comes out from the other end. That is, if they are evil.”

“That may actually be fun,” Sara said, “how would we know which ones are evil and which ones aren’t?”

“I have a list of everyone in my universe,” Soron said as he pulled out a knife and knelt down. When he did he rolled up his leg and cut into his cankle much to Sara’s horror.

“What are you doing?!” Sara exclaimed.

“This,” Soron said as he pulled out a bloody device and pressed a button showing a list of names that seemed to go on forever, “You can keep it. I think I should’ve stored that elsewhere.”

He then sat down as he as he tried to hold the bleeding down.

“Is there a doctor here?!” Sara called out after she used a few napkins to take the holo-device, “Got a man bleeding here!”

“Soron!” Diana exclaimed when she saw who it was, “What the-”

She then stopped when she saw the bloody pocket knife and then promptly slapped him.

“Why did you cut into your leg?!” Diana demanded angrily.

“I had a device hidden in my leg,” Soron said nervous that he’d get slapped again, “I gave it to Sara to help her with a job I asked her to do.”

“Why’d you hide it in your leg?!” Diana exclaimed.

“Look Diana!” Soron said as he stood when his cut had magically healed, “Even I get boarded sometimes! There was nowhere to hide that without it getting found and then every hero in my universe getting killed off one at a time by the Kree who are vicious evil bastards!”

“As good a reason as that is,” Diana said, “maybe you should’ve waited till after the party to do it!”

“Why?” Soron said, “I have never had a party before and I was bored! Half these people I don’t even know, and there are some I never liked! There was only one person I wanted here today, and she just had to turn up when there’s a whole crowd!”

Diana shut up at that and some of the people shared glances while others just looked on anticipating something. However, nothing happened except for Diana and Soron staring at each other.

“Uh,” said John suddenly, “How’d you manage to cut yourself with that normal mundane pocket knife when bullets bounce off of you?”

“That’s a good question,” Soron said a bit loudly before he started wobbling and the the world started spinning, “I don’t feel so good.”

“Soron!” Diana exclaimed as he fell forwards and would’ve landed face first if she hadn’t caught him.

“Somebody!” Diana said as she began to panic, “Help him!”

“Diana!” Bruce said hurrying into the room, “don’t touch him!”

However, he was too late as Diana began to feel dizzy as well and then fell down next to Soron.

“What the hell is going on here?!” John Stewart demanded.

“Everyone with powers stand back!” Bruce commanded, “everyone else. Help me move them to somewhere comfortable.”

“What’s going on Bruce?” Clark asked from across the room.

“Soron has been infected,” Bruce replied as he moved Diana to one of the couches with some help, “With what, I have yet to determine.”

“We need to get him to the Watchtower’s medical wing!” Wally said quickly.

“Weren’t you listening partner!” the man from exclaimed as he helped move Soron to another couch, “Soron here is contagious to anyone with powers. That means should we take these two up there there’s more than a chance everyone in our posse would become as unwell as these two!”

“Oh,” Wally said and stayed silent.

Bruce quickly left the room with strict instructions for nobody that has powers to come anywhere close to the two unconscious on the couches. Sara and John did what they could to keep the two comfortable and bring their fevers that had just made itself evident down. Eventually, Batman returned with a device in his hand.

“Everyone out of the way,” Bruce ordered sternly. As soon as everyone had gotten out of the way he pressed a button on the device causing a red beam of light to move in the scanning motion on both Soron and Diana. When, it was done it took 2 to 3 minutes to finish analyzing what it scanned. When the device was done analyzing it popped the info it had found onto the screen.

“What’d you find out?” Kara asked in concern and curiosity.

“Nothing,” Bruce said angrily, “Absolutely nothing!”

“There’s gotta be something we can do right?” Wally said in concern, “We can’t just let them die!”

“And we won’t,” Bruce said sternly, “We all need to go everywhere and anywhere we can to find out what happened to them. I fear we don’t have much time either judging on how quick Diana took to suffer the same symptoms.”

When everybody just stood there unsure as to how to go about it Bruce’s face contorted before he barked, “MOVE!”

At that they all rushed out of the house, some quite literally.

“I’ll go to Oa to see if the Guardians know anything that could cause this,” John said before he summoned his suit and walked towards the now open door, “I’ll come back as fast as I can when I know something.”

“Hurry,” Bruce said as he massaged his face.

“Maybe it’s the knife that infected him,” Sara suggested from behind Bruce, “He did cut into his cankle to retrieve something.”

“Maybe,” Bruce said as he walked towards where the pocket knife lay and bent down to look at it. He activated the scanner again and this time he got a result.

“Hmm,” Bruce said, “There’s definitely something on this knife that shouldn’t be there.”

“We can scan it using Gideon,” Sara offered.

“Gideon?” Bruce asked.

“The onboard A.I of my timeship,” Sara explained.

“So that’s why you didn’t leave with the rest of them,” Bruce said, “You figured you would be of more help here.”

“Yep,” Sara replied.

“I’ll go with you,” Bruce said as he stood up after he grabbed the pocket knife’s handle.

“Well who’s going to take care of these two?” Sara asked.

“I will,” the taller blonde said as she looked at Sara, “but please do hurry.”

“I have a timeship,” Sara smiled, “I’ll be back before you know it Ava.”

After Sara quickly kissed Ava she and Bruce literally ran to the timeship which was parked just outside to the right and cloaked.

**Meanwhile, in another part of town…**

A brunette woman with a scar running down the right side of her face walked away from a building which began billowing gas out of its doors and windows as some people tried to escape it via those exits. Unfortunately, those people didn’t make it and collapsed as they coughed out their own blood. Then five minutes later they got back up and began shambling towards the nearest noises that attracted them. The scarred woman was nowhere to be seen at that time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You Wonder Woman fans should be able to recognize the lady at the end of the chapter. Even if you have never seen the original show or read the comics you should recognize her from the first ever live action WW movie. this is only part 1. i know it didn't have much action, but i felt like having it be slow since its supposed to be primarily about Soron's birthday. for those of you who know how long Xandarians actually live, I apologize if i'm inaccurate in the explanation. i know very little about Xandarians. let's just consider it another reason why soron comes from an AU marvel universe. i do apologize to you comic lovers for doing Stephen Amell's Oliver Queen and the Manu Bennett Slade Wilson, but i love those iterations above any others. also, don't worry. i will give slade is pure white hair eventually. just won't be this story or the next one. same goes for oliver's goatee and mustache. As to where Stanley was this entire story? we'll find out next time. is he in league with the scarred woman? we'll find out eventually.


	13. Interim III Part 2: The Outbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rip Hunter makes a cameo. General Wade Eiling makes his first story appearance. Soron and Diana get cured. Doctor Poison turns on Scarecrow. The outbreak gets dealt with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just checked the chapter cause something was niggling me. when i did check it, i noticed a continuity error. Slade had stated that Argus had already quarantined the city, but in a later part i had put it that Amanda gave the order for the city to be quarantined. please do inform me of any other continuity errors i put in the future chapters so that i may fix them. please and thank you.

Interim III Part 2: The Outbreak

 

J’onn J’onzz was in the Watchtower keeping an eye on things when he received a call from an encrypted wavelength. Suspicious, but curious, he answered it and saw Bruce’s face on the monitor.

“J’onn,” Bruce said with his usual serious expression, “Soron and Diana have been infected by a virus. I’m currently on the Legends’ timeship scanning a blood sample, but I need everyone searching for a cure.”

“I read you Bruce,” J’onn said as he pulled up a footage on the monitor next to Bruce’s face, “but there’s another crisis that we can’t ignore.”

“What is it?” Bruce asked.

“I’m sending the footage to you now,” J’onn replied. When he did so Bruce widened his eyes as he came to a realization. The footage showed several citizens of chicago being attacked by other citizens. However, the attackers didn’t only claw at and tackle them. They were also biting into people.

“Both of the crises are connected,” Bruce realized out loud, “I don’t know how yet, but they are. Send as many as you can spare to deal with this situation without slowing down the search for a cure. If a cure can’t be found then we need to find the one behind it.”

“Agreed,” J’onn concurred, “I’ll inform Argus that they need to quarantine the entire city of Chicago while we do everything we can to save it.”

“I can’t talk anymore,” Bruce said, “I have to focus on the blood sample. Just tell me whatever you find.”

“I will,” J’onn said before Bruce ended the call. J’onn then began calling Argus, and had to wait for a few minutes. When the call was picked up the person on the receiving end wasn’t all that please.

“You hacked into my organization!” an african american woman accused, “Do you know how many laws that’s breaking?!”

“Yes,” J’onn said, “However, this is an emergency. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have done so.”

“What do you want Martian?” the woman said still angry.

“I’m sending you footage of the crisis in Chicago, IL,” J’onn said as he clacked on the keyboard.

“My god,” said the woman, her anger completely forgotten.

“I request that you put up a quarantine around the entire city before the crisis reaches the city’s borders,” J’onn advised, “Don’t bring it down until we have dealt with the situation.”

“Very well,” the woman said, “But if it gets too out of hand even for the League, I’ll be sending my people in to deal with the situation. Waller, out.”

Waller then ended the call right then and there while J’onn began looking through CCTV footages for the one responsible behind both of the crises.

**Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location…**

The scarred woman was busy at a chemistry station mixing chemicals together when a man with a ragged long coat and a limp walked up. On his face was a scarecrow mask, and on his right hand was a glove with four syringes on each finger much like in one of the old nightmare on elm street movies. In his left hand he held a cane which he used to keep himself on his feet. Around his neck was a noose worn like a tie.

“Doctor,” said Scarecrow as he walked up, “How goes phase 3 of our plan?”

“The final poison will be ready in 24 hours,” the Doctor replied in a german accent.

“Good,” Scarecrow replied, “And soon we’ll not only control Chicago, but the whole world now that the Justice League is out of the way.”

“I need to stay focused,” the Doctor snapped, “Now leave me be!”

Scarecrow angrily whacked her in the side with his cane causing her to jolt away from the chemistry station as she held the area he hit her. Scarecrow then whacked her in the back in the knee causing her to fall down onto her back.

“Do not presume to command me Poison,” Scarecrow growled, “Do not forget that it was I who resurrected you! I can also take that gift away. Disrespect me again, and I’ll add you to the experiment.”

Scarecrow then promptly limped away while Doctor Poison glared at him as she slowly stood up. Once Scarecrow had gone, she limped back over to her station and continued her task.

**With Bruce…**

Bruce was staring through a microscope at the blood sample he took from the bloody pocket knife. Not only was the blood blue, which was odd on its own, but the unknown property in the blood seemed to be multiplying.

“Its multiplying,” Bruce said out loud, “That would explain why the infection acted fast.”

“That is correct Mr. Wayne,” said Gideon, “However, I have found something that you should see.”

“What is it?” Bruce asked as he walked over to one of the Waverider’s monitors.

“It appears that the virus had become a fast acting contagion upon the moment that Mr. MacLeod cut into his leg,” Gideon replied, “if he had not done so, neither he nor Miss Prince be in the advanced stages of the virus yet.”

“So it was intended to make them weak where we couldn’t help them?” Bruce asked.

“No,” Gideon said, “According to my analysis the virus was intended to only weaken them and make them vulnerable to the crisis currently going on outside of this ship.”

“Can you isolate the unknown chemical?” Bruce asked.

“Of course,” Gideon said, “It’s already done.”

Gideon then put up an image on the monitor for both Bruce and Sara to see.

“It looks similar to what I saw Ivo’s mirakuru notes,” Sara said as she narrowed her eyes.

“Ivo deals in Androids,” Bruce said, “Not viruses.”

“I’m talking about Jonathan Ivo,” Sara explained, “He’s Anthony Ivo’s long lost cousin. Just as insane though.”

“What exactly is mirakuru?” Bruce asked.

“Essentially a Super Soldier serum,” Sara replied, “It was used during world war two, but there haven’t been any successes till… anyway the serum made people stronger and faster than normal humans.”

“And this does the opposite,” Bruce said, “Maybe the mirakuru was used in order to ensure that the virus strain only targeted those with powers?”

“Highly probable Mr. Wayne,” Gideon said as the image on the monitor moved to the side as a mirakuru chemical image popped up and then combined with the unknown virus strain, “only 25% of it is apart of the virus. The other 75% looks similar to the Black Death but the strain isn’t airborne.”

“The Black Death has died out though,” Bruce said as he frowned, “how would that be?”

“Mr. Wayne,” said a british voice from behind Bruce. Wayne Bruce whirled around quickly he saw a man in a brown long coat.

“Rip?” asked Sara with a tone that she couldn’t believe it.

“Ah,” Rip said when he saw Sara, “Sara. I know that when you see this I’m more than likely going to be dead. I had Gideon copy a message for me so that I may help Mr. Wayne save his friends.”

“Enough catching up,” Bruce said, “Tell me how to save my friends and the city.”

“Mr. Wayne,” Rip’s message said gravely, “You need Lex Luthor’s help to do this. With his aid you will be able to save the city, but the cure for the city lies in Mr. MacLeod’s dna. Once Mr. MacLeod is saved Luthor will need his blood.”

“I’ll never trust that monster,” Bruce said as he narrowed his eyes.

“Never said you had to,” Rip’s message said.

“Fine,” Bruce grunted, “How do I save Soron?”

“You have to kill him,” Rip said simply, “The virus was designed to kill all who have powers. After blocking out their powers of course.”

“We don’t sacrifice our own,” Bruce said bluntly.

“He only needs to be dead for five whole minutes,” Rip explained, “That will be suffice. After that the virus will be as if it had never entered his system.”

“What about Diana?” Bruce asked.

“Her affliction will end when you destroy the source,” Rip replied, “I have no more time now. You know, that’s actually funny. Being a time traveler and all.”

Before Bruce could say anything, the hologram flickered away.

**In the city…**

The people that weren’t zombie-fied were running away in fear as they were being chased by their friends, families, and neighbors that had turned feral. Suddenly, a couple of ferals fell down as their legs were tied together by bolo-arrows.

“Just what is going on here?” Arrow asked nobody in particular before firing another bolo-arrow at another feral.

“That’s a good question,” said a familiar voice prompting him to whirl around and quickly fire at arrow. However, the arrow was deflected by his target’s katana. The man wore the Deathstroke armor from the Arrowverse.

“Slade!” Arrow snarled, “You picked a really bad day to do this.”

“I’m not here to fight you kid,” Slade said without sheathing his sword, “I’m here to help you save this city.”

“Why would you want to help me?” Arrow asked skeptically.

“I’m helping myself,” Slade said as he walked up to the edge of the roof, “Argus has quarantined the town. Until this crisis has been dealt with I’m stuck here just the same as you.”

“Fine,” Arrow said as he lowered his bow, “but if you do anything funny I’ll shoot another arrow into your last eye.”

“I wasn’t the one who betrayed you back then kid,” Slade said coldly, “You were the traitor.”

Before The Arrow could say anything, Slade jumped off of the roof to start dealing with the feral civilians. The Arrow fired a grappling arrow and then swung to join Slade in dealing with the ferals.

**At A.R.G.U.S…**

The african american woman from before was walking down a hallway with a file in hand. When she arrived at where she was going she saw a man with four stars on his collar looking out a window into the operations center.

“General Eiling,” Waller said as she stood there respectfully waiting for him to acknowledge her.

“Amanda,” said General Eiling, “You kept me waiting. I hate being kept waiting.”

“I’m sorry for my tardiness General,” Amanda said annoyed at how Eiling saw him as above her even though she outranked him, “won’t happen again.”

“It better not,” Eiling said before he turned to look at her and then gestured for her to sit down once he had, “What do you have for me?”

“I have news on the situation in Chicago,” Waller said as she sat down and placed a file in front of him, “It appears that the civilians are being infected by a zombie-like virus.”

“Any idea how it started?” Eiling asked as he looked at the photos.

“No sir,” Waller said, “We were alerted to the situation by the Justice League. They advised that we quarantine the city until they have dealt with the situation.”

“The Justice League,” spat Eiling, “They’ve got to be behind this.”

“I doubt that very much sir,” Waller said with narrowed eyes, “If that was the case, then they would be sure to not inform us of the situation.”

“You’re obviously a fan of those freaks,” Eiling said with a glare, “Maybe I should have you replaced.”

“I’m not a fan sir,” Waller said as she did her best to control her anger, “I just know that, for the time being, they are on our side.”

General Eiling tapped his index finger on the table as he regarded Amanda Waller and tried to think of a way to counter her. However, since he couldn’t he relented and stood up.

“Quarantine the city,” Eiling said, “but send a team of your own in immediately. I will not trust the fate of my country to those monsters.”

When General Eiling had left Amanda mimed shooting him in the head, but didn’t acted on her desire. Instead she walked into operations and gave the command for them to have eyes in the sky over Chicago City as to keep appraised of the situation in case she needed to send in Task Force X. She had already quarantined the city after all.

**With Bruce…**

Bruce had just finished doing as Rip Hunter’s message had advised and when he checked another blood sample of Soron’s he saw that the virus had basically deleted itself from Soron’s dna. Soron and Diana had been brought into the Waverider earlier when the mansion had been broken into by feral civilians. After he checked on Diana, he saw the same was true for her. Unlike Soron, Diana was already waking up. When she had completely woken up she shot up into a sitting position and looked around. When she saw Soron she quickly hurried to him in concern.

“Diana,” Bruce said calmly, “He’s going to be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Diana nearly snapped.

“Yes I do,” Bruce said still calm, “Because if he wasn’t, then neither would you.”

Diana didn’t say anything in response and just sat next to Soron caressing his cheek. She allowed herself a small smile as she stared down at the sleeping form of Soron. This was the most peaceful she had ever seen him, and she liked seeing him that way.

“Gideon,” Bruce said suddenly, “Can you see if Diana’s returned to full power already?”

“I already have,” Gideon said and showed the results.

Diana didn’t even pay attention to them as she focused on Soron before leaning down and kissing him right on the lips. She then laid next to him with her head on his chest, but wasn’t able to be that way for long as Bruce walked up to her and knelt to look her in the eyes.

“Diana,” Bruce said with his usual serious tone, “The city is in danger, and Soron’s blood is the key to saving it.”

“How is his blood supposed to save it?” Diana asked skeptically without moving.

“I believe it’s because he survived the virus strain that infected him,” Bruce explained, “Whoever infected him also brought a contagion to the city. It’s spiraling out of control, and without Soron’s dna to help find a cure for the city… the world will be next.”

“Fine,” Diana sighed as she sat up, “How do we get this cure made?”

“You’re not gonna like it,” Bruce said grimly before he stood up, “We have to employ Lex Luthor to be successful.”

“You’re right,” Diana said with a frown, “I don’t like it.”

**Meanwhile, at Doctor Poison’s lab…**

She had just finished with the chemical when Scarecrow returned to check on her progress. She then poured the liquid into the gas canisters before turning around to see Scarecrow limping towards her.

“Have you finished yet?” Scarecrow asked in an impatient tone as he leaned on his cane.

“Yes I have,” Doctor Poison replied, “The canisters are ready for your use.”

“Good,” Scarecrow said before pulling out a gun and aiming it at her, “Now that I have no more use for you, here’s your reward.”

“I knew you would turn against me,” Doctor Poison said with a glare, “That is why I have called the Justice League here.”

“You did what?!” exclaimed Scarecrow just before people crashed through the roof. Superman and Supergirl hovered in the air with their arms crossed as they glared at the two. Suddenly, Scarecrow’s gun was no longer in his hands after a red streak sped between the two. To Scarecrow’s left was The Flash who had his gun in his hand.

“Your terrorist acts end here,” Superman said as he touched down on the ground, “Surrender yourself and no harm will have to come to you.”

“I will never s-” began Scarecrow before flash ran around him and tied him up as well as gagged him. Superman and Supergirl raised their eyebrows at him.

“What?” Flash said, “They say ‘I will never surrender’ all the time. I was just saving our ears from having to hear it.”

“Isn’t Scarecrow supposed to be all about gassing people with fear gas?” Supergirl asked in confusion.

“That’s what he did by having her create that zombie-like virus gas,” Arrow said as he and Deathstroke arrived, “Zombies tend to cause panic after all.”

“What’s in those canisters?!” Supergirl demanded when she looked at Doctor Poison.

“Phase three,” Doctor Poison sneered before throwing the canister on the ground causing it to pop open.

As the gas began to do their work each member of the Justice League that was there began to fall down. Even the supers which included Deathstroke. Scarecrow looked up at her as she left, but when she saw him staring at her she stopped. After a quick decision she went to him and knelt by him.

“You really should’ve respected me Scarecrow,” Doctor Poison said as she removed the gag, “because now you’ll fall victim to your own experiment.”

She then removed his mask and and put it on her own head. She scrunched her nose when she smelled the inside, but didn’t take it off.

“Why are you doing this?” Scarecrow asked.

“Why?” Doctor Poison said, “because there’s only room in this world for one of us, and I would be the better Scarecrow than you ever would. Oh, and I’ll be taking this.”

She then reached into his coat and pulled out a notebook which had all of his fear gas chemical notes. She kicked him once before she walked off.

**With Bruce and Diana…**

Bruce was now in his Batman outfit and Diana was now in her Wonder Woman outfit. They had just arrived at one of Luthor’s buildings when a feral leapt at them. Before it could land on them it was blasted away. When they looked towards it they saw Luthor wearing the armor he wore when he was fighting the Justice League.

“Isn’t this a surprise,” Luthor said calmly, “I didn’t expect the Justice League to arrive on my doorstep. Why are you here? I haven’t done anything illegal.”

“Not yet you haven’t,” Diana said with a glare, At a look from Batman she just looked away to prevent her from saying anything else.

“We have come here to employ you in a certain task,” Batman said as he walked up to Lex.

“What task is that?” Lex asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Saving this city,” Batman replied bluntly.

“The Justice League coming to me for aid?” Lex asked in amusement, “Finally decided to start trusting me?”

“No,” Batman said, “We just have a common goal.”

“And what is that exactly?” Lex sneered.

“Maintaining a world that we can survive in,” Batman said, “A world that is full of zombie-adjacent creatures is not one that either of us can survive in.”

“Very well,” Lex said, “Let’s go talk somewhere safer.”

“I’m going to go find the one behind this,” Diana said before she flew off.

Lex only shrugged before leading Batman through the building to his lab.

**Later, with Diana…**

Diana threw a feral civilian into a swarm of them causing all of them to fall down like bowling pins before she saw a person wearing a scarecrow mask. She quickly flew at the person and pinned him or her against the wall.

“You’re the one behind this!” Diana snarled, “You better fix this Crane!”

“You are half right Fraulein,” said the person revealing herself as a german woman, “I am responsible for this, but I am not Crane. Crane is now apart of his own experiment.”

“Who are you?” Diana asked.

“During the 1900s I was known as Doctor Poison,” Doctor Poison replied, “But in this day and age you can call me Scarecrow. Scarecrow 2.0 if you will.”

“You will pay for poisoning my friend and this city!” Diana shouted.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Scarecrow 2.0 said before pulling out a knife and stabbing Diana in the arm causing Diana to let go.

“Crane was the one that poisoned your friend,” Scarecrow 2.0 said, “All I wanted was to destroy this horrible country and bring Germany back to greatness.”

As Diana tore the knife from her arm Scarecrow 2.0 made her escape.

**With Batman…**

Luther looked into a microscope and looked at the blood sample Batman gave him before he grinned and stared back at Batman with an insane look.

“Whatever this is could revolutionize medical technologies!” Lex said excitedly, “It can regenerate any skin cells, cure cancer, cure the common cold, and can help humans live far longer than normal! You’ve got to tell me where you got it!”

“Can it be used to cure the virus that has taken the city?” Batman asked changing the subject.

“Of course it can,” Lex said, “I’ll need a gallon or two in order to make enough for the city and in case this happens ever again.”

“I can get you enough for the city,” Batman said, “How much for the city alone?”

“Two quarts,” Lex sighed knowing that Batman won’t let him have enough to use for anything else.

“I’ll be back,” Batman said before he headed to the window and glided out into the sky using his cape as a glider.

**Later…**

As soon as Batman returned he gave Lex the two quarts of Soron’s blood for Lex to use to manufacture the cure. Lex quickly but carefully carried it over to a chemistry station.

“This’ll take a while,” Lex said, “You might want to get comfortable.”

Batman merely leaned on the wall with his arms crossed as he waited for Lex to finish his job. When Lex had finished night had almost arrived. Lex slowly turned around and carried it to Batman.

“You do have something that can spread this everywhere right?” Lex asked.

“Of course I do,” Batman said even though he didn’t. Batman then tucked it into his utility belt before jumping out the window again and gliding off.

“Prick,” Lex grunted at Batman’s rude departure.

**At the Watchtower…**

J’onn J’onzz looked at the monitor as he surveyed the situation when Batman called.

“Batman,” J’onn said as he answered, “I haven’t found a cure for Soron nor for the crisis on the ground.”

“I have the cure for the city-wide outbreak,” Batman said, “But I don’t have a way to spread it to everyone to cure them.”

J’onn quickly teleported Batman onto the watchtower and quickly flew towards the teleporter in order to greet him. When he got there Batman was already walking off the teleporter and then raised an eyebrow at J’onn.

“I figured time was of the essence,” J’onn replied to Batman’s unasked question, “Follow me.”

**Five minutes later…**

J’onn and Batman arrived in a lab and Batman raised an eyebrow in confusion. However, his confusion was answered when J’onn picked up a device and walked over to Batman.

“This device was used to deliver bio-weapon to another planet a long time before i was born,” J’onn explained, “However, all martians have the knowledge of those times as the memories are shared to the younger generation when the previous one is nearing their deathday.”

“You built a weapon that has killed people?” Batman asked with narrowed eyes, “Why?”

“I built it incase we ever had to come into contact with anything that would require us to spread any kind of chemical being spread across a large space quickly,” J’onn answered, “and good thing I did.”

“Hmph,” Batman said when they reached the Javelin Bay, “Let’s just get the job done.”

They quickly got into a Javelin, and Batman poured the cure into the center of the device as J’onn activated the Javelin’s engines. When they reached the correct height J’onn activated the device before phasing out of the Javelin and dropping the device. Once J’onn had phased back into the Javelin Batman flew them back to the Watchtower where they watched the cure spread across the entire city in the form of rain.

**The next day…**

Soron slowly woke up and when he did he found himself in his bed and right next to him was Diana who was sound asleep. His face reddened as he had never woken up with Diana in the same bed with him. However, his embarrassment faded as he smiled at her peaceful look before rolling over and in the process putting his arm around her. He then closed his eyes and fell back to sleep as he was still exhausted for some reason. When he woke up again, he found himself no longer exhausted and was alone in bed. He hurried downstairs as he felt better than he had in the past three months. As soon as he went down the stairs he saw Diana, Bruce, Clark, Kara, John Stewart, Wally, and even J’onn in the living room.

“Happy late birthday,” Diana said with a smile as she walked up to him with a wrapped box in her hands. Just as Diana handed Soron the present she pulled him into a hug and whispered, “Don’t do something stupid like that again. You scared me a lot.”

When Diana headed back towards the couch Kara walked up and handed Soron the gift she got for him.

“Glad to see you’ve recovered,” Kara said with a smile, “This is from both Alex and Me. She’s currently on a mission for the DEO.”

“Tell her I said thanks,” Soron said kindly which made Kara smile before walking back towards the couch and leaned next to Diana.

“Wish I could've done more to help you,” John Stewart said as he placed his present on top of Diana’s gift as both of Soron’s hands were full, “Glad to see you alive. I would stay, but the League is still working on repairing everything that was damaged yesterday.”

John Stewart then summoned his suit with his ring before he headed towards the main door. Nobody else walked towards Soron, but Clark gestured for Soron to walk over.

“I wasn’t able to get you a gift,” Clark said apologetically, “Lois was adamant that she be the one to get it and give it to you, and right now she’s doing her job for the Daily Planet on reporting on the Leaguers that are helping fix the town.”

“It’s alright,” Soron said as he placed his gifts onto the coffee table.

“I know what it’s like to be the last of your species,” J’onn said as he handed Soron an object, “So I figured that the best gift to give was this.”

“Uh what is it?” Soron asked in confusion.

“It allows you to see all the loved ones you lost,” J’onn explained, “specifically the good memories. It helps with ensuring that one doesn’t forget their faces.”

“Thanks J’onn,” Soron said as he actually began getting emotional, “I’ll put it somewhere safe later.”

He then carefully placed that on the coffee table as well. Next was Bruce’s turn, but he didn’t reveal a present at all. In fact he just stood there.

“I brought your gift here earlier,” Bruce said, “It’s down in the batcave.”

“There’s a batcave here?” Soron asked in confusion.

“Yes,” Bruce confirmed, “It now belongs to you. Has your suit in a display, and all that.”

“So what was the gift?” Soron asked curiously.

“You’ll just have to see for yourself,” Bruce said cryptically.

“Wait a minute,” Soron said realizing something, “Where’s Stanley?”

The mood suddenly became gloomy as the Leaguers looked between each other.

“It turns out that Stanley was actually Crane,” Bruce said through gritted teeth, “He fooled me! He killed the original Stanley and took his place. He was the one that infected you with the virus that depowered you. The virus was slow acting and probably took most of the day to depower you entirely.”

“What happened to him?” Soron asked.

“He fell victim to his own experiment,” Diana said sneering a little, “now he’s a vegetable. He won’t be causing us trouble again though.”

“Doctor Poison still got away though,” Bruce reminded her, “We’ll see her again. Eventually.”

“And when we do,” Clark said with resolve, “we’ll be ready.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much action I know, and there was quite a lot of dialogue. we'll probably see Doctor Poison again. Just not so soon after her first appearance. i was actually getting bored while writing this chapter. it became hard to do. next chapter will be an actual episode chapter though, so that'll be less hard.


	14. Episode 5: The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron reveals his feelings for Diana to her. Soron goes head to head with the android. The Atom makes a reappearance. Luthor saves the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soron had found a new natural ability as soon as he healed from the virus that was entered into him by Crane that had disguised himself as Stanley as was determined in the previous chapter. Soron no longer needs mechanized wings to fly. also, this chapter was less tedious to do as i didn't have to think on how to do it. there are certain arcs i can do well with them being custom, but not the latest custom arc. i have a custom arc planned for this story that i want, no, need to do. However, i'm afraid that i'll do it in a way that its crap. however, that arc won't be for a long while.

Episode 5: The Return

 

It had been a day or so since the bio-weapon was released by Doctor Poison and she was still in the wind. Some guy called the Question was assigned to track her down, but till he did the League had to focus on other matters that called for their attention. Right now Diana and Soron were in the dining hall of the Watchtower and Soron was rocking his new suit. It were very similar to Superman’s suit except the red S symbol was replaced by the Ravager symbol and he didn’t have the outside panties some of the heroes had; which was a relief. In fact it looked more like the suit from Justice League: War. He didn’t even need to wear a mask anymore as he now wore glasses as a civilian much like Clark. However, he didn’t have to pretend to be a moron to convince others as people already doubted Soron MacLeod was a hero.

“So,” Diana said as she took a sip of water, “What do you call yourself now?”

“I figured I’d just stick with Ravager,” Soron shrugged as he brought a macaroni and cheese pizza to his mouth.

“Ravager?” Diana asked with a raised eyebrow, “Isn’t that a bit… sexual?”

“This symbol is what the original Star Lord wore on his belt back in my universe,” Soron said defensively, “He was a member of the Ravagers before he became a Guardian of the Galaxy.”

“Okay then,” Diana said smiling as she backed off of the subject, “So, how’d you like my present?”

“Why’d you give me a greek soldier’s bracers?” Soron asked.

“They were enchanted to help you defend against weaponry made by the gods,” Diana explained.

“Oh that’s actually useful,” Soron said, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Diana said with a smile.

“Look at the two lovebirds,” said a familiar voice nearby. When they looked towards it they saw Supergirl standing there with a smirk.

“Hey Kara,” Diana said blushing, “Uh you know we’re not lovebirds right?”

“Uh huh,” Kara said as she sat down at their table, “Everyone looks at you and sees it. You two are meant for each other. Love is just pouring out of the both of you. Especially when you look at one another.”

Soron and Diana just scratched their heads as they became uncomfortable. Kara just laughed at their reaction before she stood up and headed over to the buffet table. Soron and Diana just ate in silence and every now and then glanced at one another before looking away just as quickly.”

**Later, in the main room…**

John Stewart and J’onn J’onzz were talking to a small blue alien on a vid-screen and it was clearly not good news. When Soron casually walked nearby them he heard what was left of the conversation.

“You know I am getting a little homesick,” said a Green  Lantern behind the small blue alien in a similar uniform to John Stewart’s except for the mask and the hourglass symbol he went with, “It’d sure be nice to see Earth again.”

At a look from the blue alien, the Green Lantern lowered his head in disappointment while the alien looked back at the two Leaguers.

“The Green Lantern Corp is a military institution dedicated to the protection of the galaxy,” the alien said bluntly, “We’ll not alter our decisions or disrupt our plans simply because of your personal problems.”

John widened his eyes in shock and dropped his mouth open as a response to that.

“It’s our business to know these things,” the alien said as he leaned toward the vid-screen then added with a kinder expression, “You’re going to have to work through it John.”

Suddenly an alarm began blaring on the alien’s end causing him to look up.

“What is it?” John asked.

As a response both the alien and the human Lantern behind him looked to the left towards a strange screen which looked kinda like a big ass crystal ball.

“There’s an unidentified object approaching Oa at a somewhat astonishing speed,” the alien said as the crystal ball thing showed an image of space with a glowing thing getting closer and closer.

“We’re on it,” said the Green Lantern before flying out of the council room on Oa.

The crystal ball thing showed the approaching object smash through the barrier made by the Lanterns sending them tumbling through space.

“Activate planetary defenses,” the alien said emotionlessly, “Magnify image.”

The crystal ball then targeted the approaching object with a reticle and then the image enhanced. On the image was an obviously golden being flying extremely fast.

“Professor Ivo’s android!” J’onn said in surprise.

“Holy mother of-” began John.

Suddenly, the line went dead and only static could be heard and seen. Both J’onn and John showed expressions of horror at the ferocity of the android’s attack on Oa. It had appeared to have destroyed the whole world.

“Son of a bitch,” Soron said from behind them startling them.

“Didn’t your mother tell you not to eavesdrop?” John said angrily.

“No,” Soron deadpanned, “My mother was killed by a Kree called Ronan the Accuser. She also happened to have been in the habit of eavesdropping on people anyway.”

“In that case,” John said before turning back to the image of static, “I request that you refrain from eavesdropping ever again.”

“Okay,” Soron said, “Let’s just try to forget this ever happened.”

“Oa,” John said in disbelief ignoring Soron, “It’s gone. Just like that.”

“We’ve got another problem,” J’onn said from back at his usual post by the computer. He then brought up a hologram which showed the android’s trajectory.

“The android’s heading for Earth,” J’onn finished.

John and Soron widened their eyes in surprise.

**5 minutes later…**

Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Captain Atom, Soron, a lady with green hair wearing a green outfit, a man with a star on his red and black torso, Red Tornado, a giant white robot, a man in a suit, a woman wearing a black outfit with a white star like symbol, a woman in an ice themed costume, Flash, Orion the son of Darkseid, and a man wearing a full suit of armor stood in front of Superman, Green Lantern, and J’onn.

“We’ll set up three layers of defense,” J’onn said, “One on the ground. One in the upper atmosphere. One in space.”

“That’s me,” GL said, “I wanna hammer that thing before it gets anywhere near here.”

“Move out,” J’onn said causing all the gathered Leaguer members to scatter. Wonder Woman, Flash, hammer guy, and ice lady all arrived at the teleporter at once. Soron quickly landed next to Wonder Woman before the teleporter activated. The others except for J’onn, Superman, and GL did the same.

“What is it?” J’onn asked stopping Superman in his tracks.

“When the android left Earth,” Superman said as he turned to look at the martian, “He said he’d evolved to a level where none of us could offer him anything. So, why is he coming back?”

J’onn looked down thoughtfully as he pondered on the reason why.

**Meanwhile, at the Luthor Mansion…**

“Your new book,” said a british woman as she Lex and her camera crew walked down a hallway, “Into the light certainly projects the image of a man who’s reformed, and even though you did help save the city of Chicago from that ghastly crisis many people are still skeptical Mr. Luthor.” 

“For good reason,” she added when they came to a stop.

“I understand their skepticism Ms. Sroya,” Lex said as he opened his shirt revealing a chestplate, “But the fact is, I’m not the man I was before.” 

“This device may prevent the spread of my kryptonite induced cancer for another thirty years… or another thirty days,” Lex continued as he looked down at the chestplate.

“For all I know it might be another thirty minutes,” Lex continued as he looked back as Ms. Sroya while closing his shirt, “however fate plays her hand.” 

“I want my remaining time on Earth to have meaning,” Lex continued as he looked forward slightly then back at Sroya, “To have a positive difference in the world.”

“So you’re a new man?” Sroya asked with a sceptical expression, “No grudges? No vendettas?”

“Even against the Justice League?” Sroya added with a smile.

“Oh far from it,” Lex said chuckling at the start, “I owe them everything.”

He then led them outside.

“They trusted me when no one else would,” Lex said, “I’d like to think that we might be friends. Especially after they came to me for help concerning that zombie virus in Chicago.”

“What the devil?!” Lex exclaimed when he saw two flying figures heading towards him. Suddenly, Supergirl came into view just before grabbing him and carrying him off with hammer guy close behind. The news crew watched as the two Leaguers flew off with Luthor in their hands.

**With Soron…**

Soron and Diana stood on the ground as they waited for Ivo arrive without saying a word. However, Soron figured it was time to break the silence.

“Diana,” Soron said.

“Later,” Diana said in a professional tone, “We have to be ready for the android’s arrival.”

“There might not be a later,” Soron said as he walked in front of her and stood.

“Of course there will be,” Diana assured.

“In case there isn’t,” Soron said before he pulled her into a hug, “I have to say this now.”

“Say what?” Diana asked losing her grasp on professionalism.

“I love you Diana,” Soron said, “I didn’t know it at the time, but I loved you the moment I first saw you.”

Diana just blinked twice at him as she stood there speechless, and then Soron suddenly kissed her hard on the mouth. She didn’t do anything for a few seconds, but then closed her eyes and leaned in to kiss him back with equal force.

**With Kara…**

“Let me go!” Demanded Lex as he struggled in Supergirl’s grasp.

“Keep fighting me Lex,” Kara said in annoyance, “And I just might.”

Lex then looked down and saw how high he was then decided to settle down.

“What is this about?” Lex asked grumpily.

“There’s an old friend of yours coming back to town,” Supergirl responded.

“Ivo’s android,” hammer guy specified. Lex look back at him with a look of horror before he looked back down.

“Wherever you’re taking me won’t be safe enough,” Lex said before he smirked, “but I have just the place.”

Supergirl and hammer guy looked at each other before deciding to follow Lex’s directions.

**A few minutes later…**

Supergirl and hammer guy lightly touched down on the ground before Supergirl dropped Lex safely on the ground. Supergirl and hammer guy then looked at the location.

“A barbershop?” Supergirl asked in disbelief.

“Got to hand it to you Luthor,” hammer guy said, “Nobody would think to look for you here.”

Lex looked at him for a second before walking in with Supergirl and hammer guy close behind. The man sweeping the floor looked at the door when it opened and immediately walked towards a chair where clients sit for a haircut. Lex immediately walked towards said chair after it was turned towards the door.

“So,” hammer guy said once Lex was sitting in the chair, “After you get your nose hairs trimmed, then what?”

“Just watch,” Lex said dryly not amused at hammer guy’s chosen quips.

The barber then pressed an obvious red button on the counter side, and the floor opened right before a metal contraption closed around Lex.

“Hey!” Supergirl yelled as she flew after him with hammer guy right behind her. They flew down a tube which Lex was escaping through, and had to smash through several doors that closed behind Lex. Eventually, Supergirl and hammer guy reached a crossroads of tunnels to follow and had to come to a stop.

“Where?” Supergirl asked.

“I guess we just pick one,” hammer guy shrugged. Supergirl then flew straight. It didn’t take long for her to feel weak however as a green glow began emanating from the tunnel. She then fell into the side of the tunnel and slid destroying a strip of the tunnel as she went.

“Kryptonite,” Supergirl said as she looked up before her head plopped down again. Hammer guy quickly landed next to her and picked her up.

“Thinks of everything,” Supergirl said weakly to hammer guy, “doesn’t he.”

**With Lex…**

Lex’s escape egg slid to a stop in a lab and opened. As soon as it did Lex jumped out and ran towards a computer wall.

“Open,” Lex said without stopping. The computer wall then moved to either side revealing itself as a pair of doors. More doors kept opening as Lex ran towards them. Eventually, the last one opened revealing a hidden room right before the computer wall began closing itself with the other doors closing behind it.

Lex quickly ran to a gigantic canon he had stored in the room and got into its seat. As soon as he turned it on it turned towards a door with the Lexcorp symbol on it.

“What’s the matter Lex?” asked a disembodied voice causing Lex to look around, “Scared?”

“The Atom,” Lex said in disappointment. Suddenly, something small flew off his shoulder and began growing to normal size as it flew towards the ground.

“You came with the other two no doubt,” Lex said unhappily when the Atom had returned to normal size and looked at him.

“You sound so disappointed,” Atom said as Lex got off of the canon.

“The most powerful creature in the universe wants my head and the League sends its least powerful member to protect me,” Lex said in irritation while walking past the Atom.

“Come on Lex,” Atom said as he walked towards him, “You’re smarter than that.”

“You know I’m an expert on nanotechnology,” Atom continued as Lex clacked on some keyboards.

“Yes yes,” Lex said unimpressed.

“The very same technology Ivo used to create the android,” Atom said as Lex went back to typing.

“Which means I’m just the man to find the chink in the android’s armor,” Atom said cockily as Lex looked back at him.

“And how are you going to find that chink without the android’s blueprints?” Lex asked skeptically as he walked towards the Atom, “The League confiscated them!”

The Atom merely smiled as he opened his right hand revealing a small piece of paper which then grew.

“And now they’ve unconfiscated them,” Atom said as he handed them to Luthor. Lex then unrolled the paper and widened his eyes before smiling happily.

**Above the Earth…**

Superman was now in a suit designed to let him use his powers without damaging them and looked to his right where John Stewart hovered as he fiddled with his ring. Alongside them were dozens of Javelins, Captain Atom, a giant white robot, and the girl with the white star from before.

“You can’t keep me from my goal,” echoed an disembodied voice which freaked Captain Atom out who searched for the voice’s owner.

“Telepathy,” Superman realized as he flew forwards a bit.

“I’m not impressed,” GL said as he flew forwards and up a bit.

“Why did you come back?” Superman asked the voice, “What do you want?”

“Why do you ask questions you already know the answer too? The voice asked back.

“Luthor,” Superman stated.

“Of course,” the voice confirmed just as the android became visible.

“We’re not gonna give him up,” Superman said sternly.

“He’s your enemy,” the android said as it got closer, “You owe him nothing!”

“He saved a city of ours,” Superman said, “Least I can do is help protect him from you. So I’m going to tell you this once. Turn. Back. Now.”

“I have evolved far beyond what I was when we last met,” the android said as it got closer, “you do not want to challenge me.”

“Light em up!” Green Lantern yelled as he swung emerald energy at the android. The Javelins then followed suit and blasted at the android in sync. Captain Atom blasted it with nuclear energy from his hands, Orion fired lasers from his glider thing, the white star lady fired white light from her hands(i’ll call her her actual title from now on), the giant white robot blasted orange lasers at the android, and the guy with the orange star on his shirt blasted a giant star shaped laser at it. Superman also used his heat vision on the android. Some of the blasts knocked him back, but it then shrugged off the blasts and flew right at them.

**Back with Lex and the Atom…**

Lex with his shirt now unbuttoned at the top was putting a the beginnings of a device together while The Atom looked at the monitor and fiddled with a remote.

“The android,” Atom suddenly said to Lex, “Why does he hate you so much?”

“I once took advantage of his naivete,” Lex said as he paused at his task and looked up. He then stood up straight and turned to look at The Atom.

“He’s not naive anymore,” Lex continued as he went back to his task, “And I’ve stopped taking advantage of the innocent.”

_ Uh huh. According to the history books Nate skimmed through, Luthor stays an evil dick even past his supposed redemption,  _ thought The Atom before he said, “Let’s hope you’ll be more convincing if you have to tell him that.”

“Gentlemen,” the voice of J’onn said from the monitor catching their attention.

“Bad news?” Luthor asked in disappointment.

**Later…**

The Atom was welding on the giant laser cannon while Lex was putting an object together. Lex suddenly stopped what he was doing and looked over at The Atom, and grew annoyed.

“Not the laser,” Lex said as he walked over to The Atom, “Use the photon gun!”

“And completely fry the circuitry?” Atom asked as he turned to Lex.

“That’s what circuit breakers are for!” Lex replied as The Atom removed his welding glasses.

“Sure if you’re not in a hurry,” Atom countered, “are you?”

“Don’t question me you incompetent idiot!” Lex yelled.

“We’ll beat him Lex,” Atom said calmly which reassured Lex enough to calm him down. The Atom then placed his hand on Lex’s shoulder and added, “We will.”

Both The Atom and Lex turned around and resumed their tasks without a word.

**Meanwhile, with the Android…**

“Where are you?” the android asked nobody in particular as he listened for Lex. Suddenly, voices from all over the world could be heard jumbled together making the conversations confusing. When the android isolated Lex’s voice he angled towards the direction the voice came from.

**With Supergirl…**

Supergirl, Red Tornado, a guy in a suit, a lady that was purely green with green flame acting like a bikini top and bottoms waited in the air patiently and prepared for the android.

“He’s coming in,” J’onn alerted Supergirl.

“Not for long,” Supergirl said before she flew up towards the android. When she saw him she flew up faster, and when they collided a bright light flared. When the light had ebbed the remaining heroes saw Supergirl unconscious and falling down towards the city. Thankfully for the city Supergirl crashed in the water, so the only thing that happened was a giant splash of water indicating where she was.

The green lady looked back at the water then at the android with an expression of shock on her face. The man in the suit flew up and fired rockets at it and when the rockets failed he flew in reversed as he fired a chain gun which popped out from his back and over his shoulder. However, the android simply ripped the gun off of the guy before punching him towards the ground below. The android was then blasted by two streams of green flame which the green lady fired at him. The android turned around and glared at her before absorbing the flame into his hand as he flew up to her. As soon as he reached her, he grabbed her throat.

“Your bravery is admirable,” the android said, “but annoying.”

The android then spun around and threw her down to the Earth below. However, before she could go far a red colored tornado caught her which allowed the man in the suit to pick her up and carry her off to safety. Red Tornado then turned his tornado power against the android. The tornado surrounded the android and caused him to spin around a few times before he got his bearings and flew down the tornado itself straight towards the hero in control of it. The android fired a golden laser beam at Red Tornado cutting him in half. The android flew away as Red Tornado’s halves fell away from each other and then exploded.

**On the Watchtower…**

J’onn watched the progress of the android and the expected failure of the Leaguers that got in its way. He widened his eyes and then pressed a button on the control panel. An image popped up on the screen showing hammer guy, Flash, Wonder Woman, the ice girl, and Soron now known as Ravager waiting patiently for the android’s arrival.

“Second line of defense is down,” hammer guy guessed.

“Prepare yourselves,” J’onn said before pressing another button and The Atom showed up. J’onn then startled The Atom when he said, “You’ll need that cannon very soon.”

“Then stop interrupting us!” Luthor yelled as he ran into view and shut down the line on his end. J’onn furrowed his brow(does he even have eyebrows?) in annoyance before he turned around.

“Have you come to offer help?” J’onn asked as he turned around towards someone in the shadows.

“Not help,” Doctor Fate said as he walked out of the shadows, “Hope.”

**On Earth…**

The android touched down on the ground before walking towards the barbershop. Before he could get far Wonder Woman, Flash, hammer guy, Ravager, and the ice girl surrounded him.

“When will you learn?” the android asked before summoning a circle of fire around him and then thrust his arms out. Doing that also sent a dome of fire towards his opponents knocking them back. However, to his surprise Soron aka Ravager was still standing. He had only been knocked back one step. Ravager looked to check on Wonder Woman, and when he saw that she was unconscious he saw red as he glared at the android

“You bastard!” Ravager yelled before he sped at the android delivering a strong right hook. 

The right hook sent the android flying backwards, and Soron didn’t give it time to recover as he flew to where it was going. As soon as the android reached it Soron gave it an uppercut which sent it into the sky. He then flew after it and punched it. Said punch knocked it back further. Soron kept up the process till eventually the android went intangible which allowed Soron to go threw it. As soon as Soron had past through it, the android became tangible again and grabbed his leg. Before Soron could do anything the android spun around and threw Soron down towards the ground. When Soron got to the ground, a large crater was formed. However, Soron wasn’t down for the count yet as he stood up. When he stood up he looked up and saw the android coming right for him. However, when before he could fly up to it the android vanished. The next second later it appeared next to him and delivered a hard right hook which sent him flying. The android appeared in front of Soron and then punched Soron down onto the ground creating a small crater.

“What are you?” the android asked as he picked up Soron who was fading into unconsciousness, “I have acquired all the powers from every living being in the universe, but I have never encountered a being such as you. Nothing has lasted as long as you have against me. However, you like everyone of your friends… are done for.”

As the android began to squeeze the life out of Soron he was suddenly blasted by green energy. Said energy came from Soron’s eyes as he fought himself to consciousness.

“I can do this all day trash can,” Soron said as he wobbled on his legs with his fists raised.

“No you can’t,” the android stated matter of factly, “you’re barely standing. You have impressed me however. For that you have earned the equivalent of what humans call ‘respect.’”

The android then bonked Soron on the head rendering him unconscious. The android flew back to the barbershop, and this time he flew down the tunnel as the barbershop was no more.

**With Luthor…**

Luthor glanced into a couple of his security camera footages and saw the android blasting past his security measures. He quickly went back to work on the back of the cannon while The Atom was working on something at a table.

**With the android…**

The android was still flying through the tunnel system, and ahead of him was some kind of sprayer defense system that sprayed liquid metal. The android was going too fast to avoid it, but he didn’t feel like he needed to. After he flew through it the liquid metal solidified around him which caused him to fall on the ground of the tunnel and skid to a stop. It only took him a second to break free, and when he did a wave of energy burst forth sending shrapnel everywhere and blinding the security camera that both Luthor and The Atom was staring at him through. As soon as the camera could see again both Luthor and The Atom saw the android get to a crouched position before flying down the tunnel again. Luthor and The Atom quickly inserted the biggest battery known to man into the back of the cannon.

The android in the meantime tore through the door and continued his way. Down the tunnel were some nets made purely out of electricity, but the nets didn’t slow him down one bit.

**Back with Luthor and The Atom…**

Luthor was hot wiring the control panel of the cannon as a finishing touch. As soon as he wiped the sweat from his forehead he felt a thudding sound and saw through a security camera that the android had blasted through all of the doors leading to the room he was in except for one which the android was now walking towards.

“Lock and load,” The Atom said as he looked at Lex before looking down and flipping a switch to the on position. Lex looked at the final door the android was breaking through before placing his hands on the control of the cannon in preparation to fire. Lex turned the cannon towards the door and waited in anticipation for the android’s inevitable intrusion. When the android broke down the door, The Atom looked up in surprise. As the android walked towards them Luthor pressed the trigger of the cannon, which then charged up before firing on the android engulfing him in the laser. The flare from the laser’s connection with the android made them shield their eyes, but when the light had ebbed away the looked with fear that the android was still standing.

“Intriguing idea,” the android said smugly, “modifying the cannon so it could alter my programming. And it might have worked a month ago, when I was still nanotech.” 

“But I have transcended that limitation,” the android said as it continued walking towards them.

**In space…**

The entire Justice League that had tried to stop the android before it could enter Earth were currently floating around. They were either dead or unconscious. Several of them were severely wounded, and so they wouldn’t be going on missions any time soon. Suddenly, a green glow appeared and that woke Superman up. When he turned to see what it was he saw several Green Lanterns lead by Kyle Rayner heading their way. Each Lantern used their rings to carry several battered up Javelins to safety and the same went for the giant white robot and some of the other heroes. Kyle used his ring to turn John Stewart the right side up and to prevent him from suffocating in the vacuum of space. John slowly woke up he turned and saw Kyle hovering there.

“You’re alive,” John said in relief.

“Which is more than I can say for Oa,” Kyle said sadly.

“What’s the plan?” John asked angry at the android once more.

“We’re going to use every bit of power we have left in our rings,” Kyle said as he held his ring up, “Take one last shot at the android.”

“A blast like that,” John said in uncertainty, “could destroy have the planet.”

“Half a planet’s better than none,” Kyle said as he turned to look at John.

**Inside the Watchtower…**

Doctor Fate and J’onn J’onzz watched as the Lanterns carried off the wounded and unconscious Leaguers off to safety. They also heard Kyle’s destructive plan made in pure rage and thirst for vengeance.

“It’s…” J’onn said sadly as he lowered his head, “the only way.”

“Hmm,” Doctor Fate said in disappointment, “Those words are always used to justify destruction.”

“We can only guess how much power the android has amassed as it worked it’s way across the galaxy,” J’onn reasoned as he turned to stare at Doctor Fate, “It has to be stopped Fate. Here and now.”

“Not just for the sake of this world,” J’onn continued, “but for all worlds.”

“Then for the sake of all worlds,” Fate said, “I will continue to seek a better way.”

Fate then hovered in the air and vanished as a purple Ankh appeared behind him.

**With Luthor…**

The android walked towards them and The Atom dashed at it through the air as he fired two shots from his suit’s arms. However, the android held up a golden energy shield which absorbed the blasts before pushing the shield towards The Atom. When the shield touched The Atom it immediately knocked him out of the air and towards the ground. The Atom slid to the wall as his suit sparked before pushing himself into a sitting position.

The Atom watched helplessly as the android grabbed Luthor by the shirt and held him so they’d be face to face.

“You lied to me Luthor,” the android said angrily before throwing Luthor onto the ground. The Atom quickly ran over to him in order to see if he was alright.

“Manipulated me,” the android continued angrily as he walked towards them, “Used me, to serve your own despicable ends.”

“What are you waiting for?” Luthor said in defeat, “Just do it.”

“Good idea,” Atom said as he grabbed Lex’s shoulder before shrinking them both to the size of an atom.

“A subatomic universe,” Lex said impressed.

“Figured the android can’t kill what he can’t see,” Atom said with a smile and his arms crossed.

“Oh but I CAN see you,” the android’s disembodied voice said shocking them. Suddenly, they saw giant fingers appearing to be rising from the ground. However, what was in fact happening was the android had both Luthor and The Atom in his left hand.

“Did you really think I couldn’t follow you here?” the android said as his gigantic face looked down on them, “No universe, however large, however small, is denied to me.”

“What do you want from me?” Lex asked in fear.

“You have everything human’s desire,” the android said, “Wealth, power. Yet you crave more. And you’ll do anything to get it. Why? What is your ultimate purpose.”

“What you’re really asking is,” Lex said in understanding, “What is yours?”

**With the Lanterns…**

They flew down the tunnel and now that all of the traps had been activated it was a smooth venture for them. As soon as they arrived they landed on the ground and walked towards the room where the android was. However, Doctor Fate appeared in their way.

“Wait,” Doctor Fate advised, “Please. The android’s nature has proved benign before. I believe it will again.”

“Benign!” John Stewart said outraged as he raised his ring when then glowed “You call destroying Oa benign!?”

“Not even you can stand against the Green Lantern Corp,” Stewart said as all the Green Lanterns aimed their rings at Doctor Fate. Doctor Fate then stepped aside and allowed the Lanterns to walk past him into the room where the android was. However, when they looked around they didn’t see the android, Lex, or The Atom anywhere.

“What the devil’s going on?” John demanded as he turned to look at Doctor Fate.

“Lex Luthor,” Fate explained, “is saving the world.”

**With Luthor…**

“The truth is,” Lex began slowly, “For all my struggles to make my mark in life, for all I’ve accomplished…” 

“in just a few short generations my name will be forgotten,” Lex continued as he turned around and walked away before looking over his shoulder, “Even the greatest of us can’t compete with time.”

“And death,” Lex added as he looked down.

“Then why do you go on?” the android asked still confused, “Why does anyone? Why don’t I just destroy you and everything else right now? All it would take is a single thought and…”

Suddenly, the sky started spinning and the wind picked up with terrified Lex and The Atom.

“No!” Lex hurried, “If you do that, you won’t see the end of it!”

“The end of what?” the android asked.

“The evolutionary process,” Lex replied as he walked forward, “You of all beings should know something of that.”

“Yes,” the android agreed, “Yes I’m evolving. That’s why professor Ivo made me. These past months I have amassed so much knowledge, and yet… I remain confused. Empty. What am I evolving into? What is my purpose?! I must know! Tell me!”

“There’s no way to tell,” Lex said, “and that’s why I stay in the game. My purpose, if you will, is to see where It’s all going.”

“And you!” Lex continued, “You’ll live forever. You’ll be able to see it all.”

“Is that my purpose?” the android asked, “Simply to be a witness?”

“We create our own purpose in life,” Lex answered before turning around and walking towards The Atom, “Now go create yours.”

The sky continued spinning for a few seconds, before it stopped just as Lex reached The Atom.

“You know,” Lex said with a smile as he turned to look at the android’s face, “When I heard you were coming, I was actually afraid of you. Petrified! But now, when I see your fear. Your uncertainty. I just pity you.”

“Should’ve just quit while you were ahead,” Atom said as ther android stared at Lex. Suddenly, the android’s face moved towards them and then there was blackness. The next second later they were back in the room in the normal sized universe. Suddenly, Lex and The Atom were pushed to the side by Lantern willpower as more Lanterns surrounded the android and aimed their rings at him. Before they could fire, Doctor Fate appeared next to the android.

“Get out of the way!” barked John Stewart.

“It’s over,” Doctor Fate said as he looked at the android, “isn’t it?”

“Yes,” the android confirmed.

“He murders an entire world and it’s over?!” John exclaimed, “Just like that?!” 

“I don’t think so,” John said as he aimed his ring at the android again.

“I did not destroy Oa,” the android said as he walked towards the human Lanterns, “I simply moved it to another dimension.”

The Lanterns then lowered their rings in surprise and looked at each other before looking back at the android.

“It was in my way,” the android explained.

“Then could you move it back?” John asked as nicely as possible. The android’s eyes then glowed for 2 or 3 seconds before returning to their natural red color.

“Done,” the android said which made the Lanterns all smile.

“I can help you in your journey,” Fate offered as he walked up to the android, “in your search for meaning.”

“Help me?” the android asked in confusion, “Why?”

“Because that,” Fate answered, “is my purpose.”

“I accept your offer,” the android said. Then both Doctor Fate and the android teleported away with a purple ankh behind Fate as both Luthor and The Atom walked up.

“Told you we’d beat him,” Atom said with a grin.

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Lex sneered at The Atom making The Atom’s smile vanish. Lex then walked off leaving The Atom behind who smiled behind his back.

**At the Tower of Fate…**

A woman with black hair in a ponytail wearing a yellow shirt, blue pants, and black shoes walked towards a bookshelf with a book in her hands. Just as she was putting it away a purple light flared behind her. She looked towards it and saw Doctor Fate and the android appear.

“We have another guest Inza,” Fate said to his wife as she walked up to them, “Would you prepare another place for him?”

“Of course,” Inza said before looking at the android and continued, “Welcome.”

“Are you alright?” Inza asked Doctor Fate as she turned back towards him.

“I’m fine,” Fate reassured her, “Although there was a moment when I thought John Stewart was going to attack me.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said a voice as a person wearing light blue pants, black boots, and a black shirt walked forward. That person also happened to have wings.

“His bark is a lot worse than his bite,” finished the figure as she walked into the light. That person was none other than Shayera Hol. Former spy, Leaguer, and lover of John Stewart.

**Up in the watchtower…**

Diana had been checked over and found that she only had a small concussion which she could heal from within a few days. As long as she took it slow she should be fine to go walking around. As soon as the medical staff gave her the go ahead she walked over to Soron’s medical room and looked in the doorway. Soron was unconscious, had bruises all over, suit was torn, and he was unconscious. He had taken the worst of the android’s power as Soron had attacked the android not long after she lost consciousness. Soron managed to get quite a few powerful hits in, but the android was infinitely powerful and inevitably beat him. Diana reflected back on what Soron had told her, and now she wished he hadn’t. It just hurt too much, but she was also glad cause it meant that her feelings weren’t only felt by her alone.


	15. Interim IV: The Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron has left the League to get some time to himself. Diana is overcome with worry and does something stupid. Lobo and Kilowog make an appearance. Grodd.

Interim IV: The Aftermath

 

It had been a day since Ivo’s android had attacked and Soron had healed up, but he didn’t feel like it. In fact he felt broken. He kept flashing back to when he saw Diana’s unconscious body and it terrified him. He had avoided going home and going to work at WayneTech for a while now. He just wanted to be alone. Alone felt better because he didn’t have to worry about seeing his loved ones on the ground again. He feared that the next time they would die, so he decided to leave them behind. Hell, he left the planet. Right now he was on a world that was the equivalent to Knowhere that existed in his reality. 

“Another flarb?” warbled the bartender of the alien bar Soron had found himself in.

“Huh?” Soron asked in confusion.

“Do you want another one?” the bartender asked while gesturing with one of its tentacles.

“Sure,” Soron said with an emotionless smile, “why not?”

“Coming right up,” warbled the alien before it slithered down to fill Soron’s mug.

Suddenly, a crashing sound came from behind him. Soron slowly turned around and saw a dog-like alien on the ground next to an upended table. A buff man with pure white skin, red eyes, black hair, a black hulk hogan styled mustache that wore a black jacket with the right arm ripped off over a grey muscle shirt, a belt with a skull for a buckle, blue pants and knee-high boots stood over him.

“Nobody cheats on a game with the main man!” yelled the buff white alien.

“Wasn’t cheatin’ Lobo,” the dog-alien snarled as it got up, “Yer just not that smart.”

“Not… smart?” Lobo asked before he yelled, “Who you calling dumb you ugly smelly mutt!”

“Don’t you call me a mutt!” barked the dog-alien.

“Sorry,” Lobo said sarcastically, “I meant runt.”

“Why you!” the dog-alien barked before punching at Lobo hard. However, Soron was there and caught his hand. Everyone but soron knew how he got there. He had used his superspeed till he was in front of Lobo and staring at the dog-alien.

“He moved freaking fast,” said one of the drinkers, “just what is he?”

“Why you protecting this crutacking swine?!” snarled the dog-alien as it tried to pull its fist out of Soron’s grasp.

“I’m not protecting anyone,” Soron said as he bent the fog-alien’s wrist back causing the dog-alien to fall to its knees, “but I’m not interested in having to leave this bar just because you’ve started a fight. I came her to drink in peace, and you ruined that. Now apologize to Lobo, or I’ll snap your arm like a twig.”

“Never,” the alien snarled.

“Wrong choice,” Soron said before he punched the dog-alien’s right arm with his right fist. Everyone heard a sickening snapping sound followed with a wailing dog-like alien that curled into a ball on the floor as it grasped its snapped arm. Soron then walked back to the bar and sat down to drink the flarb that the bartender refilled his mug with. Lobo cocked his head as he looked at Soron before he shrugged and turned around to leave.

**On Earth…**

Diana was worried because Soron hadn’t returned home the day he was released by the medical staff. She even asked J’onn to scan for his location and while that’s normally not allowed except for crises he did so as he saw how worried he was. His locator showed him in the Watchtower, but all Diana found was the locator. Diana just sat in the main room as she stared absent-mindedly out of one of the windows towards the stars

“You and you,” John Stewart said from somewhere in the room, “We have a mission.”

“What’s the mission?” asked Supergirl as she hurried up to him.

“Don’t know yet,” GL said, “All I know is that the Justice League received a request from an anonymous source.”

“Will we know when we get there?” asked Spartan who was recently enlisted due to his friendship to The Arrow.

“No,” GL grunted, “this mission is one where we’re going blind.”

“Sounds like a suicide mission,” frowned Spartan.

“Tell me about it,” GL unhappily.

Unknown to them Diana was following them in the air. She followed them all the way to the Javelin Bay, but she didn’t join them in the Javelin.

_ “Where are you going?” _ asked J’onn through her bluetooth.

“I need to go on a mission J’onn,” Diana said as she flew to another Javelin.

_ “I wouldn’t advise it,” _ J’onn said after a few seconds of silence.

“I’ll go insane with concern if I don’t go,” Diana reasoned, “At least this way, I won’t have time to think about him. If I don’t think about him, I won‘t be concerned.”

_ “Diana…” _ began J’onn before Diana switched off the bluetooth as she flew the Javelin outside of the hangar.

**With Soron…**

Soron was wobbling about as he walked from the bar since he had drunk enough to make even his accelerated metabolism to be unsuccessful. Every now and then he banged into things, but he didn’t fall down. He was so drunk that he didn’t notice several people walking up to him.

“There’s the bastard that snapped Frolk’s arm,” a snarling voice said.

“Him?” another voice snarled, “Doesn’t seem like much.”

“It’s dinner time boys,” snarled another voice. Suddenly, three forms jumped on Soron. Soron was so drunk that he was unable to defend himself, and so he was dragged down to the ground as he was bit into by impossibly strong jaws. He then screamed in pain. The pain was so intense that he immediately sobered. He managed to throw one of his attackers into a wall before reaching back and grabbing another by the neck and pulled back. However, as soon as he did that he felt something snap around his arm and shake. Suddenly, his arm was released and when he looked at it he saw that a good chunk of flesh was torn from his arm and blue blood was oozing down.

“This bastard tastes interesting,” said one of his attackers, “I’m glad Frolk told us about this guy.”

“Know what you mean,” agreed another. As Soron passed out he heard a yelping sound and faintly saw a form pulling on something.

**Back with Diana…**

Diana found where GL’s Javelin had landed, but she also saw figures swarming all over it and running off with parts of it. With that info she decided to activate the activar camouflage and fly down quietly. She landed on a branch of a tree and watched them. The beings looked like humans, but they wore loincloths on their wastes and had raggedy hair. Suddenly, a sound of a horn blared from somewhere which attracted everyone’s attention. Diana slowly turned around on the branch and looked where the horn had sounded from. She then looked at the people that had been disassembling the Javelin and saw that they were heading that way. She then floated in the air and flew as quietly and stealthily as she could.

Eventually she reached the place that all of the people were going to, and when she did what she saw horrified her. In what looked like a courtyard she saw Green Lantern, Supergirl, and Spartan captured. Supergirl had kryptonite cuffs on, GL had lost his ring again as well as was cuffed, and Spartan had normal cuffs on.

“Listen to me!” roared a gorilla which had been sitting down a moment ago. Diana now had figured out that, that was Grodd.

“These three are members of the Justice League!” continued Grodd as he paced in front of the three captured Leaguers while human onlookers watched, “They thought they were coming here for a mission, and they were right! However, the mission they’re here for is not for the benefit of mankind! It’s the benefit of Gorilla-kind! Their part in this mission is to be the first that falls victim to my doomsday device! After all, every doomsday device has to be tested before it gets used for its intended use. Don’t want it to fail upon use do we? No, no we don’t.”

Diana clenched her fists in anger that she couldn’t do anything to save the Leaguers right now.

“Now what do they say to this honor?” Grodd asked as he turned to stare at GL, “Go on. Tell us.”

“Go suck a banana!” GL yelled angrily. Grodd just backhanded him in anger as he  HATES bananas.

“For that offense, human,” Grodd growled, “You will be the first specimen I test my device on.”

Grodd then walked away and left the Leaguers alone as Grodd’s human followers went off to do their own thing. When Diana was certain that the Leaguers were no longer being watched, she flew to them and landed softly on the ground.

“Diana?!” GL said in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

“I followed you,” Diana replied as she smashed the kryptonite cuffs that held Supergirl.

“Go warn the League,” Diana advised, “Bring some reinforcements, and hurry.”

“But…” Supergirl began.

“Go,” GL ordered, “Wonder Woman is right. There’s no way we can leave till Grodd has been stopped. However, we can’t do this alone and you’re a faster flyer than Wonder Woman.”

“Fine,” Supergirl said, “Just give me a few minutes.”

“We don’t have a few minutes,” said Spartan as he looked straight ahead.

Diana whirled around and saw Grodd glaring at her with ten humans crouching nearby. Without a second to think, Diana grabbed Supergirl and spun around three times before throwing her off into the sky.

“You think I care that you helped one human escape?” Grodd sneered in an ape-like fashion.

“Sure you do,” Diana said as she prepared to fight, “You can’t risk getting the whole League here to stop you.”

“True,” Grodd sighed before he sneered, “However, the League won’t stop me, because they won’t find me. I have reactivated the cloaking mechanism, and now nobody can find Gorilla Island.”

“Gorilla Island?” Diana asked with a raised eyebrow, “There’s only one Gorilla here, and that’s you.”

“One true Gorilla, yes,” agreed Grodd, “However, all of my subjects are failed attempts to create independant and different Gorillas from my own dna.”

“You’re just as insane as ever,” Diana said with narrowed eyes.

“Get her my slaves!” Grodd ordered and the Tarzan wannabes that were nearby all ran at her.

**Back with Soron…**

When Soron woke up he saw that he was in some room that was falling to pieces. As he sat up he noticed a horrendous smell, and when he looked to find the source he found corpses upon corpses lying everywhere.

“You’re alive?” said a shocked voice from nearby. When Soron looked at it, he saw a cyborg with a bone saw for a hand.

“It’s gonna take a lot more than carnivorous aliens to kill me,” Soron said with his mouth covered.

“I think it’d be best if you leave,” the cyborg said nervously.

“I agree wholeheartedly,” Soron said before he blurred out of the room leaving the odd alien cyborg and the corpses behind. As soon as he reached the outside he breathed in deep allowing fresh air to enter his lungs. When he was done he looked around and stared with confusion. He had no idea where he was, and now he had no way to get back to his stolen Javelin. He took off into the air so he could get a better sense of his surroundings and when he had, he saw that he was apparently in the slums of the planet he came to. He flew towards the richer part of the city and as soon as he landed some people came up to him.

“You need to go back the way you came spilch!” demanded one of the people as he aimed a blaster at Soron.

“Yeah!” another one spoke up, “You peasant-folk ain’t welcome here!”

“I’m not from there,” Soron said bluntly as he crossed his arms, “I’m from another planet visiting.”

“Then why was you flyin from the slums?” the third asked.

“I was attacked and then I woke up there,” Soron said as he made to move.

“If you was attacked then you shouldn’t be breathin,” said the first one as the three aliens stopped him.

“I guess I’m just a survivor,” Soron said, “now let me go my own way, or I’m going to have to make you.”

“I think he threatened us,” the second one said as he aimed his blaster at Soron, “Guess we’ll have to teach him a lesson.”

Suddenly, the three thugs blasted at him, but the lasers didn’t even harm Soron. They backed up in fear as Soron turned to thim with eyes glowing green.

“Bad move,” Soron said before he blasted all three of them leaving them with smoking holes in their chests. He was now tired of this planet, and so decided to go find the Javelin he had taken. He immediately took off into the air and flew away from the three corpses. When he found the Javelin he saw that the planet’s security team was lifting it into the sky with a tow line from one of their ships.

“Hey!” Soron yelled attracting their attention, “The hell do you think you’re doing with my ship?!”

“We received a message that the owner of this ship had been eaten by three citizens from the planet Sirius,” the head of the security team explained, “It is the law to confiscate and ships that belong to those that die on this planet.”

“Well,” Soron said in irritation, “As you can see, I’m clearly alive. Now, give. Me. Back. My. Ship!”

“The law is the law,” the enforcer said, “It’s not up to me if you can have your ship back.”

“But it is up to us,” said a voice from above. When Soron looked up he saw one of the Green Lanterns floating down to them. This particular Green Lantern looked kind of like a pig if you’re only looking at the face.

“The Lantern Corp has no jurisdiction here,” sneered the enforcer.

“It does if we’re in the progress of tracking a criminal,” Kilowog replied as he landed.

“We have no criminals here,” the enforcer said snarkily, “Everyone here enforces the law.”

“What does he or she look like?” Soron asked Kilowog.

“His name is Lobo,” Kilowog replied as he showed a hologram of his perp much to the enforcer’s chagrin, “He’s wanted for several counts of murder, assault and battery, blackmail, breaking and entering, and abductions.”

“I know that guy,” Soron said in realization, “I stopped a dog-like alien from starting a fight with him in a bar I was at. I think it was last night?”

“Tell you what,” Kilowog said, “If you help me locate and apprehend Lobo, I’ll help you reacquire your Javelin.”

“Sounds like a deal,” Soron said as held his hand out. Kilowog looked at it with a blank expression before he slowly placed his hand into Soron’s. As soon as they shook Soron floated up into the air and flew off in the direction he last saw Lobo with Kilowog not far behind.

**Meanwhile, with Diana…**

Diana was currently fighting off the failed gorilla clones and she was getting exhausted. Grodd on the other hand was sneering as he saw her slowing down.

“Just submit Wonder Woman,” Grodd grinned, “The sooner you do, the more likely you’ll survive the experiment.”

“I’d rather die that become one of your primates!” Diana spat angrily as she threw a clone at Grodd who merely batted him into a tree.

“That can be arranged,” Grodd said before he leapt into the air and then punched Diana hard in the head knocking her out by using the momentum from falling back to the ground.

John Stewart and Spartan stared helplessly as they saw Diana being picked up by her ankle before swung onto the ground hard.

**With Supergirl…**

Supergirl was currently falling down towards the ocean as she still hadn’t absorbed enough sunlight bring her back to full strength. However, just before she hit the ocean she managed to halt her fall and hover above the water. She let out a sigh of relief before rocketing off into the sky. Eventually she reached Metropolis just in time to see Superman punch a giant robot’s head off and onto the ground below. However, as Superman relaxed and turned around he didn’t notice as the robot’s chest began flashing red quickly. Supergirl quickly flew into it and picked it up to carry it away from the city. 

As she did so Superman looked behind him when he heard the sound of metal bending and saw Supergirl carrying the robot off. He then saw the flashing red light and realized he made a rookie mistake. Currently, Supergirl was flying as hard and fast as she could to take the robot away. Suddenly, she felt and heard a thud and when she looked to her left she saw Superman next to her. They then pushed hard and eventually they reached a point over the ocean which was far enough away from the city. However, just as they let go of the robot it exploded and sent both of the Kryptonians flying off towards the city.

“Kara!” Superman yelled as he righted himself in the air, and when he saw her he saw that she was still on a crash course towards a city street. He quickly flew to her and caught her before she crashed.

“Kara!” Superman urged in concern as he floated to the ground with Supergirl.

Kara groaned as she woke up and saw Superman staring down at her with worry all over his face.

“Kal,” Kara said as she climbed out of Superman’s arms, “We have a problem.”

“What is it?” Superman asked even more worried once he saw his cousin’s expression.

**With Soron…**

Soron and Kilowog arrived at the bar and Soron just stood there as Kilowog began asking questions. Eventually, he noticed a figure in the corner of his eye. When he looked he saw Lobo walking away with his back turned. Soron then blurred to Lobo and grabbed his shoulder.

“Hello Lobo,” Soron said and squeezed down on Lobo’s shoulder.

Lobo cried out in pain before he grabbed behind him and grabbed Soron’s arm before swinging Soron up and over him.

“That how you repay the man who saved you from the Seriusians?!” Lobo demanded angrily when he recognized Soron before he kicked at him.

“Don’t remember that,” Soron said as he caught Lobo’s foot and pushed back on it.

Lobo then swung a chain at Soron, but Soron used his laser vision and cut it into pieces much to Lobo’s chagrin.

“Nobody destroys the Main Man’s chain!” Lobo yelled before he leapt at Soron. Soron just punched Lobo in the head and sent him flying through the air. Suddenly, green energy surrounded Lobo as Kilowog walked out of the bar.

“A Lantern?!” Lobo exclaimed as he tried to struggle, “I’ve done nothing wrong! Let me go!”

“That’s for the Guardians to decide,” Kilowog said as Soron blurred up to Kilowog.

“We had a deal,” Soron said as he crossed his arm, “I helped you catch this moron. Now you help me reclaim my ship.”

“Sure thing,” Kilowog said as he floated into the air, “Just follow me.”

**Later…**

When they got back to the docks the Javelin was back where it was. Apparently, Kilowog just had to pay off the security team that took it in order to take it back. It appears that everyone on this planet was a criminal. Soron suddenly fell to his knees as his heart beat hard enough to make him feel like it was going to burst out of his chest.

“You alright?” Kilowog asked as he floated there with Lobo gagged and bound by the ring’s power.

“I have to get back to Earth,” Soron groaned as he pulled himself to his feet with Kilowog’s help, “Something’s terribly wrong.”

“Give John Stewart my regards,” Kilowog said before he floated up into the sky and to the stars, “And good luck.”

_ Thanks, I’m going to need it, _ Soron thought before he blurred up onto the Javelin and not long after the ship took off into the air and blasted off through space.

**Meanwhile, at the Watchtower…**

J’onn J’onzz was looking all over the oceans with the Watchtower’s satellite cameras, but he didn’t see anything to indicate the island the Justice League was directed to.

“The island appears to have never existed,” J’onn said as he turned to Supergirl and Superman, “It does not appear on any of the League’s systems.”

“It was there!” Supergirl objected, “I wasn’t just dreaming the whole thing!”

“Was I?” Supergirl added as she became unsure.

“No,” J’onn replied thoughtfully, “It is entirely possible a form of active camouflage is being used.”

“So how do we find it?” Superman asked.

“I’ll keep searching,” J’onn said as he turned back towards the monitor, “I suggest you go searching with your x-ray vision. I’ll have Flash go running across the world, and I’ll also ask Aquaman for aid.”

**An hour later with Diana…**

Diana slowly woke up and found herself chained to a table that lay over a vat of bubbling liquid that changes colors every ten seconds. She looked around and saw Grodd working at a few control stations. After she looked at what held her she saw that Grodd had taken every precaution to prevent her from escaping.

“You’re awake,” Grodd said when he noticed Diana straining, “I’m glad. That means you get to witness the wonderful change you’ll be going through personally.”

“When I get out, and I will get out,” Diana said angrily, “I’ll rip your head off of your body with you still alive!”

“No you won’t,” Grodd said cockily, “Because you’ll be my very loyal and submissive mate.”

“No!” Diana yelled in horror as she struggled hard, “No! No! No!”

Suddenly, something went crashing through the roof which acquired Grodd’s attention. As both he and Diana looked they saw Soron wearing his civilian clothes at the pilot’s seat with a ferocious glare. Before Grodd could do anything the Javelin rammed right into him before it came to a stop. Soron ripped a hole in the wall of the Javelin and walked out. When he did so he floated in the air and flew over to Diana.

“Hey there beautiful,” Soron said as he ripped the bindings off of her, “How’ve you been?”

Diana responded with a strong slap which echoed in the room which shocked Soron. When he stared back at her she had an angry glare on her face.

“Where the HELL have you been?!” Diana demanded angrily.

“I,” Soron said as he ripped a binding off of Diana.

“Needed,” Soron continued as he used his eye lasers on another binding.

“Some alone time,” Soron finished as he picked Diana up before floating them to more stable ground.

“What for?” Diana asked.

“When I saw you lying there unconscious…” Soron said as he clenched his fists, “I was terrified that I had lost another woman that I had loved.”

“Did you blame yourself for what the android said?” Diana asked as understanding dawned on her.

“Every woman I have ever loved died,” Soron said with rage.

“And it’s all because of me!” Soron yelled as he punched a control panel destroying it.

“Hey,” Diana said as she touched his arm, “Don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t your fault. None of it was, nor will it ever be.”

“You can’t know that,” Soron said bitterly.

“Of course I can,” Diana said with a smile, “Nothing bad that happens to us is anyone’s fault. It’s just really bad luck.”

“Then I have the worst luck of all,” Soron said still bitter.

“No you don’t,” Diana said sternly as she forced him to look at her, “I’m still here, and that won’t ever change.”

“I hope you’re right,” Soron said as he stared into her eyes, “I don’t think I’ll survive losing you.”

“What a touching moment,” growled a voice as the sound of debris shifting could be heard, “You have really touched my heart.”

Both Soron and Diana looked towards the voice and saw Grodd glaring at them with his fangs bared. Suddenly Grodd ran right at them, but Soron and Diana merely punched him hard in the head at the same time.

**Later at the Watchtower…**

Soron stood out of the medical wing and watched through a window as Diana was being checked on by the medical staff. He didn’t even notice as Batman walked up to him, but then again that’s to be expected. After all, Batman’s specialty is stealth.

“She was overrun with concern when you had gone MIA,” said Batman as he looked at Diana. Soron just stood there silent as he had nothing to say.

“If you hurt her again,” Batman warned as he narrowed his eyes while looking at Soron, “I’ll make you regret ever being born.”

“I won’t make the same mistake again,” Soron said bluntly, “I learned my lesson.”

“I’ve got my eyes on you,” Batman said before he walked away just as J’onn walked up. However, J’onn just stood there next to Soron and watched through the window to see Diana getting up off of the hospital bed.

J’onn flew off just as Diana got out of the room and saw Soron standing there.

“So,” Diana said, “How long are you going to stay?”

“With the League or you?” Soron asked without looking at her.

“Both I guess,” Diana said as she walked up to him.

“I’ll stay with the League for now,” Soron said as he looked at her, “but I’m never going to leave you behind again. I know now that there’s a larger chance of losing you by doing that than there is if I stay.”

“That’s a relief,” Diana said with a small smile before she frowned, “Don’t expect to get away with making me worry buster.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to punish me later,” Soron joked as a response. Suddenly, both Diana and Soron’s face went red and they looked away from each other for a second.

“So,” Soron said changing the subject as he and Diana walked off down the hallway, “Do you like chinese?”

“I love chinese,” Diana said with a smile, “How about next saturday at noon?”

“Exactly what I was going to ask,” Soron said making Diana smile again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know. not that great of a chapter. done a little bit better than Interim III part 2 though.


	16. Episode 6: Dark Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> General Wade Eiling witnesses a terrifying secret of the Justice League. Rip Hunter makes another guest appearance. Ray Palmer leaves the League. Soron reveals more of his past.

Episode 6: Dark Heart

 

Soron and Diana had arrived at a local Chinese Restaurant and neither used powers to do so. They had decided it was something they had to do as normal as possible. Soron was wearing a button down short sleeved shirt with shorts on and Diana was wearing a loose fitting shirt that hung off of one shoulder and had a skirt on. They both wore running shoes. Soron did the gentlemanly thing and opened the door for her which earned him a smile from Diana as she walked in. They saw a “Please wait to be seated” sign and just stood there patiently. When a waitress arrived they followed her to a booth where the sat down and ordered a couple of waters.

“Most men wear a suit and tie to dates,” Diana said with a raised eyebrow.

“Most men don’t have to wear a suit and tie for his dayjob,” Soron replied dryly as he too raised an eyebrow.

“Fair enough,” Diana allowed just as their waters arrived, “So… how is your dayjob?”

“Boring,” Soron sighed as he slouched for a second, “However it is a nice contrast from the constant action my other job entails.”

“That’s how I feel when I paint at the Gallery,” Diana said in agreement.

Soron suddenly groaned as he facepalmed which caused Diana’s curiosity to rise.

“What is it?” Diana asked after she took a sip of her water.

“I just got a sudden feeling we’re both going to have to raincheck,” Soron said as he stirred the straw in his water. Before Diana could speak both Soron and Diana’s bluetooth’s rang. They both put the JL issued bluetooths into their ears and answered the call.

_ “Soron,” _ J’onn said from the other end,  _ “Diana. I know this was supposed to be a normal day for you two, but something has crashed in Nevada. I need all Leaguers at the ready should it be a planetary threat.” _

“On our way,” Soron and Diana sighed in disappointment.

“I really hate my instincts sometimes,” Soron grumbled as they left just as the waitress returned to their booth to check on them.

“You were right about the both of us having to raincheck,” Diana said just as irritated. They both then ducked into an alley before Soron blurred them back to his mansion.

**Later…**

_ “Containment has failed and we are taking heavy losses!” _ said the voice of a soldier through an intercepted radio signal,  _ “Requesting emergency support! I repeat, we cannot contain them!” _

Superman and Soron were currently flying through the air towards the extraterrestrial threat and the same went for several other Leaguers. Most of which were in Javelins, or in Batman’s case The Batwing. Superman currently had his hand to his ear as he flew through the air.

“Sounds like the commander could use a little reassurance,” Superman said.

“Let’s hope we can give it to him,” Batman replied from inside the Batwing.

“We’ll give it to him alright,” Diana said from the pilot’s seat of a Javelin as she looked to the Leaguers behind her, “and then some. Strength in numbers and all that.”

Many Leaguers either flew, rode motorcycles, or walked gigantic steps towards the location the invaders were at and where several military vehicles and their soldiers were as well. As soon as the heroes arrived the Javelins landed they rushed out of their flying vehicles and got their first look at the invaders. The invaders looked like bulbous four legged mechanical spiders. They were silver, red-eyed things and the end of their four legs were needle-like. They were about a foot long and not very tall, so the ones that specialized in hand to hand combat would have a hard time. The “ship” they clearly came from looked like a gigantic biomechanoid blob. It was currently spewing hundreds if not thousands of the metal arachnids. It must be some sort of factory judging on the fact that the invaders seemed to never stop crawling out of it.

“Ah,” Soron said from the air as he flew closer, “Invasions. Always a pain in the micta.”

_ “A pain in the what?” _ Batman asked through the coms in his Batwing.

“Haven’t you ever seen Farscape?” Soron asked in return, and when Batman didn’t reply to him he sighed.

“Micta is a Farscape word for butt,” Soron explained.

_ “Then I agree with your statement,” _ Batman said before turning his attention to the invaders.

_ “It’s growing bigger,” _ Batman said back to business,  _ “It’s somehow devouring everything around it and converted it into mass.” _

“Yikes,” Soron commented to which several others agreed.

“And those spider-like things?” Diana asked from inside her Javelin which was still in the air.

_ “The same,” _ Batman answered, _ “and once they’re done with the debris from the army’s attempt to beat them back they’re going to spread out from those three towns.” _

_ “Diana,” _ J’onn said from the Watchtower,  _ “I have the communications feed from the General on the ground, and I’m patching it through.” _

“This is Wonder Woman,” Diana said to the General, “Go ahead General.”

**Down on the ground…**

General Wade Eiling was currently standing next to one of his jeeps with a troop carrier truck behind him. The military had retreated to one of the towns as fast as they possibly could.

“This is General Wade Eiling,” the General said as the truck behind him drove off, “USAF. We’re in the process of evacuating three towns in the immediate vicinity. We need those… things locked down.”

**Back with Wonder Woman…**

“Then the first task is containment,” Diana said as her Javelin still flew through the sky.

Suddenly, the Batwing sped up towards the biomechanoid blob.

_ “I’ve got something on board that may buy us a little more time,” _ Batman said as the Batwing got closer to the blob. When he reached the top of the blob he opened a hatch on the underside of the Batwing and dropped a bomb of sorts. The bomb’s explosion wasn’t your normal explosion as ice suddenly began covering the blob as the Batwing flew away from it.

“Batman?” Diana asked in confusion, “What was that?”

_ “Thermionic gas,” _ Batman replied,  _ “Cools to within a few degrees of absolute zero.” _

“Why would you have something like that on board?” Diana asked with a small smile.

_ “I needed to freeze the gotham river once,” _ Batman answered,  _ “Long story.” _

The spider-bots that were heading towards the blob suddenly stopped and then began going the other direction down the cliff face.

**With Superman…**

“Move in,” Superman ordered with a gesture. Then he lead the charge with Green Lantern, Supergirl, Captain Atom, Ravager aka Soron, A knight on a pegasus, Booster Gold, and Hammer guy who is now known to be Steel flying right behind him. As soon as Superman reached the bugs he punched as he flew by. Some were sent falling to the bottom of the cavern and others were smashed. Behind him Booster Gold blasted his golden lasers at them as he flew by. Each one he blasted was destroyed. Green Lantern stopped in front of a portion of the cliff face which had a ton of the bugs crawling down it. He then fired a laser beam at them destroying them, but he didn’t get them all. 

Red Tornado came flying in with a red tornado formed between his hands that he used to blow them around. The knight flew down the cliff face and swung with his sword destroying any he passed. Supergirl just flew up the cliff through the bugs which went flying off of the cliff face. Soron just hovered in the air as he used his green laser eyes on the bugs, but eventually he got bored and decided to help out The Arrow who was firing arrow after arrow at the bugs. Superman was still punching the bugs, but this time he stayed put. He then looked down and saw Ravager smash a bug as soon as he landed in the middle of the crowd. He also saw the ice lady firing ice beams at the bugs, The Arrow firing his arrows, and another guy that was using two 9mms dressed in a red duster-like cape and wore a black gangster outfit complete with fedora. On his face was a red mask. Superman then decided to fly down towards the ground. Just as he arrived on the ground Soron blurred up to him as Wonder Woman walked down the Javelin’s ramp.

“Good job,” Diana said into her bluetooth, “surround them and close in.”

When she took a step forward Superman held an arm out to stop her as he said, “Hold on a second.”

After a few seconds he widened his eyes in alarm. Just as the ground began trembling he yelled, “They’re right under us!”

Suddenly the bugs burst out of the ground and began attacking the Leaguers. Two of them attacked Vixen and Huntress while some others headed towards Diana. Diana merely stomped on one destroying it when it got too close. Superman used his heat vision on one bug while Soron fired green lasers from his eyes at another. Diana punched another twice sending it flying off. Behind them the Javelin began getting swarmed by the bugs and collapsed as they began tearing into it. All over the the ground the heroes were destroying as many as they could, but no matter what they did more just kept coming. There were so many that the League couldn’t hold them back as some bugs slipped past their defenses.

**In the town…**

“Wonder Woman,” General Eiling said as he watched a military troop carrier drive off with civilians, “Can you hear me? I’m in the town of Goldhanger. Two clicks from you, and we’re not going to get everyone out in time.”

_ “You won’t have to General,” _ J’onn said through the General’s communication feed,  _ “The Watchtower is now in stationary orbit over the site. I’m clearing the binary fusion generator for firing.” _

“The what?” General Eiling said in confusion.

_ “It converts our station’s entire energy output into a single shot,” _ J’onn explained,  _ It’s a gun with the punch of a small nuclear weapon, General.” _

“You’re not serious,” General Eiling said skeptically.

_ “We’re very serious,” _ J’onn replied bluntly before he ordered,  _ Now pull your men back. We can’t hit the aliens directly, because it could scatter them for miles; so we’re going to burn a trench around them.” _

General Eiling quickly ordered his men to retreat from the area as J’onn prepared the Watchtower to fire a massive laser beam. The heroes also joined them once all the soldiers had gotten out of the area. It was a smart move as a massive beam of energy blasted down from the heavens, carving a trench around the main trench, just past the line of spiders. The light was so bright; save for the heroes with shielding over their eyes, everyone had to turn away, for fear of being blinded. When the light faded, there was a fifty-foot wide, half-mile deep trench in the ground. Everyone present, even the heroes, who’d been briefed about the weapon, were left in awe. It was an incredible, not to mention terrifying, display of power.

“That should by them some time to get the townspeople out,” Superman said being the first to recover from his reaction towards the laser’s power.

“Now I wanna learn about these things,” Superman concluded. He then spent a minute or so staring intensely at the robots which stared at them in return.

“I think the main spacecraft is replicating,” Superman said, “There’s some kind of near-microscopic machine inside each of them, a kind of… dark heart building around itself.”

Above them flying around in the Batwing, Batman thought on what they could do till an idea came to him.

“We need Ray Palmer, in Boston,” Batman decided, “Superman, you’ll get there fastest. Get to him, explain the situation, and get his help.”

Batman would’ve preferred to bring Ray Palmer, known to the League as the Atom, to the battle directly, but he’d damaged his suit while fighting a nanobot. Batman didn’t know how long it would take Ray to fix his suit, and figured that Ray would only be able to offer advice. Batman figured all they would need from him would be advice, which he was fine with. They would’ve simply called him, but with the Watchtower temporarily down, so were their long-range communications; their communications only had a fifty-mile range without it.

“Agreed,” Superman said before he flew up into the sky, “Be right back. Hold the line.”

As Superman flew off Wonder Woman noticed Soron’s expression and saw him too fly off a little ways from the group. When she joined him Soron didn’t even acknowledge her presence.

“What’s the matter?” Diana asked in concern.

“I’ve seen a weapon like the one the League used today along time ago,” Soron said quietly.

“Was it what destroyed Xandar?” Diana asked still concerned.

“No,” Soron said, “It was built by the Nova Corp and used by them.”

“What happened?” Diana asked.

“The Nova Corp used the weapon to commit genocide,” Soron said bitterly, “They had sworn themselves to fight for justice and peace, but… that wasn’t for justice and peace. It was an act of war.”

“You fear the Justice League is heading down the same path,” Diana realized.

“Yes,” Soron said quietly, “I swore I would do anything to stop it from happening again, but that would mean I’d have to betray the only friends I have in this universe. It means I would have to betray you, and I know how you feel towards betrayal.”

“What prompted the Nova Corp to do that horrendous act,” Diana asked.

“An alien race that had had a peace treaty with them began building a weapon of mass destruction themselves,” Soron explained, “That alien race was called the Kree, and it was widely known that the Kree hated all species other than their own. The Nova Corp feared that the Kree were going to use that weapon on them, and so they made a preemptive decision.”

“Were you a part of the Nova Corp during this?” Diana asked.

“No,” Soron laughed emotionlessly, “This was long after I joined the Guardians.”

“Were the Kree going to attack the Nova Corp?” Diana asked.

“No,” Soron said, “The Guardians of the Galaxy later found out that they were setting coordinates for another world that belonged to their longtime enemy, the Skrull.”

Diana had nothing to say to that, and just stood there next to Soron in silence as they waited for superman to return. Unknown to them, General Wade Eiling stood nearby listening to every word of their conversation. He frowned unhappily, because the Justice League had the ability to destroy their entire planet should they want to. However, he was also happy as that meant he could legally go to war against the Justice League once he informs his superiors of how powerful the weapon was.

**With Superman…**

Ray Palmer was just putting the finishing touches on his suit as Superman touched down on the balcony outside. He stood back and smiled as he looked at his new and improved suit. It didn’t look any different, but it did have a few new advancements to the suit itself.

“Now then,” Ray said to himself, “time to take this suit out for a test run.”

Before he could get into his suit Superman opened the sliding door to the balcony and walked in.

“Ray Palmer,” Superman said calmly. Ray whirled around in surprise then laughed out his relief when he saw it was Superman.

“Superman!” Ray said with a smile, “It’s been a while. However, you never drop by unless its an emergency. What’s the emergency?”

“Omega level situation,” Superman said, “You might want to sit down.”

“Do tell,” Ray said as he sat down next to his A.T.O.M suit.

**Back with the League an hour later…**

“Got an eta yet?” Batman asked as he flew in the sky, “We need you.”

_ “Soon,” _ Superman replied,  _ “How’s the trench holding up?” _

“What trench?” Batman asked as the Batwing passed over a swarm of robot bugs and glanced at what used to be the trench. A few minutes after Superman had left, the spiders had spent a half-hour using their own bodies as a series of bridges, allowing their brethren to scurry across to the other side. The League had destroyed the bridges several times, but the bridges just kept getting formed.

On the ground, many of the Leaguers were getting tired as they fought the advancing bugs off. Even Soron, who was the second most powerful Leaguer they had on the roster. He blasted laser after laser at the bugs, but like with GL they just kept coming. Huntress resorted to just bashing them with a collapsible quarterstaff since they were too fast for her automatic crossbow. Wonder Woman grabbed a bug as it leapt at her and crushed it while a blue demon-looking Leaguer with white horns swung an orange staff leaving flames in its wake. Stargirl fired star-like energy at the bugs from her staff, the giant white robot smashed downwards, Doctor Light used her bright white energy blasts. 

Literally nothing they did held the bugs off for long. Atom Smasher then smashed down with his left foot on the bugs and bashed them his right fist before using his left fist, and in the process gave the others some respite before having to resume fighting. Supergirl swooped down and used her heat vision destroying a bug that had slipped through Atom Smasher’s attacks. Suddenly, the bugs began reforming themselves like a worm would. Now there were twice as many to deal with and nobody was happy about that. Batman flew his Batwing past the giant robot that was still holding the line and watched as it punched two giant robotic bugs away. He then aimed at the base of the biomechanoid blob and fired two missiles, which didn’t do much at all.

“That was the last of my useful armaments,” Batman said before he steered the Batwing away, “I can’t do anymore.”

Just as he passed over a section close to the top four tiger-like bugs burst out of the ice and landed on top of the Batwing. Batman tried spinning the jet to shake the tiger-bots off, but they wouldn’t allow themselves to be flung off. Suddenly, a claw pierced the windshield and Batman looked up to see a tiger-bot staring at him. He opened the canopy which sent the tiger-bot sliding backwards and threw two batarangs at two other tiger-bots knocking them off. Batman looked to the front and saw a tiger-bot walking towards him, but before it could reach him he pulled the eject and rocketed off into the sky much to the tiger-bot’s irritation. It then opened its mouth and began firing at Batman who was still strapped in his chair. He unbuckled just as the chair exploded and dive-bombed towards the ground.

Batman tried gliding with his cape, but he was going too fast and lost his grip on his cape. He then decided to call out an s.o.s.

“Batman to all points,” Batman said through his cowl’s com system, “I could use some air support. Since I can’t fly. At all. I’m going to fast to glide.”

“Now would be good,” Batman said as he got closer to the ground below. Suddenly, Superman caught him just in time to keep him from becoming street pizza.

“The spiders are forcing us back,” Batman said as he looked at Superman, “and the mothership is releasing mechanical attack tigers to protect them. Tell me the Atom gave your something useful?”

“I did more than that,” Atom said sitting inside of Superman’s ear now wearing his upgraded A.T.O.M exosuit.

“Find Wonder Woman and get us down,” Batman said to Superman.

Soron, Wonder Woman, and the other Leaguers were fighting a pack of spiders just as Superman arrived and let go of Batman. The Atom jumped out of Superman’s ear and grew to his normal size.

“This is a losing battle,” Wonder Woman said in irritation to Superman, Batman, and The Atom, “We destroy one, the main vessel breeds three more.”

“Just like the Hydra,” Soron added, “But infinitely more annoying and dangerous.”

“Agreed,” Diana said before looking at the Atom, “Welcome to our nightmare. Can you help?”

“Look at those,” Ray said with wide eyes in awe as he stared at the billions of invading robots, “It’s amazing.”

“Ray,” Superman said, “Tell them what you told me.”

“These things build copies of themselves,” Ray explained, “Using whatever material is around, and they’ll only stop when everything is gone.”

“So this isn’t just about these three towns,” Diana said slowly.

“No,” Atom said, “They’ll go coast to coast.”

“And then across the seabed,” Atom continued turning towards Batman, “They’ll use rock, metal, plastic, plant life…”

“People,” Batman finished.

“Yes,” Atom replied grimly.

“Sounds very familiar to Replicators,” Soron said grimly.

“Tell you about it later,” Soron said when he saw their confused expressions.

“And destroying replicating machines isn’t enough,” Atom continued, “you have to get to the system’s core control.”

“We destroy the mothership,” Diana said understandingly.

“Just like in A Phantom Menace,” Soron joked gaining a look from everyone making him lower his head, “Okay, I’ll shut up.”

“You have to understand,” Atom said seriously, “making metal out of rock is a microscopic process. The core control is issuing instructions at an atomic scale. You can’t just smash up a machine the size of an infection.” 

“Leave a crumb of it intact and it’ll start all over again,” Atom said as Superman walked off, “You have to get me inside that ship. I have to go inside and reprogram it.”

Across the area the Leaguers were destroying as many spider-bots as they could. Even Doctor Fate had arrived to help.

“All points,” Batman said through his cowl’s com system, “This is Batman. We have a new plan. We have to get the Atom to the main vessel.”

“Superman, Ravager, and Wonder Woman will escort him,” Batman decided, “The rest of us will back them up.”

Suddenly, the Waverider arrived out of a swirling blue vortex in the sky and began firing down on the spider-bots. The Leaguers who had never seen nor heard of it before looked a startled expression. Even General Eiling looked on in shock.

“Excuse me,” said a voice from the ship, “But that plan won’t work.”

“Says who?” Batman asked with narrowed eyes.

“I do,” said the voice. Suddenly, a hologram of Rip Hunter appeared.

“Rip,” Ray said with emotion in his voice, “But you’re…”

“Don’t finish that sentence Mr. Palmer,” Rip said interrupting him, “I came here because your future, my past is in peril. If you stay this course, you will fail. When you fail, the whole world will cease to be. I will cease to be.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Atom asked.

“Simple,” Rip replied, “Have Ivo’s android send it to a black hole. That will end this once and for all.”

“No way!” Soron yelled angrily, “Last time that thing was out and about it wounded a LOT of Leaguers!”

“Who are you?” Rip asked in confusion, “You’re not in the historical archives…”

“He is a good friend of mine Rip,” Ray said slowly, “I trust your judgement Rip, but I happen to agree with him concerning the android. It’s too risky.”

“In that case,” Rip sighed, “There is only one other alternative option.”

“And what’s that?” Superman asked.

“We subject the invaders to the time winds,” Rip replied, “The time winds will tear them to shreds. It will be as if they never existed. Everything past this point in time during this crises will be forgotten.”

“He is right,” Doctor Fate said as he flew up to them, “This is the only viable option, as I too am disinclined to believe that Amazo is ready to rejoin the world.”

“Do it,” Batman said, “We’ll hold the line here.”

**Later…**

Soron was sitting alone in the Watchtower’s cafeteria drinking a soda as he mulled over what happened that day and the lost hour and where the invading bio-mechanoids vanished to. However, what he kept flashing back to was when the League revealed a weapon of mass destruction they had hidden inside of one of the two Justice League Watchtowers. He didn’t even notice as Ray Palmer walked up to him.

“Hey,” Ray said jolting Soron to the present.

“Hey Ray,” Soron said as he gestured for Ray to sit with him.

“I heard about the super weapon,” Ray said quietly.

“Figured you would,” Soron said emotionlessly.

“I can’t stay in the League if they have a superweapon like that,” Ray confessed.

“I don’t think I can either,” Soron admitted.

“Someone has to be here to keep them straight,” Ray said with a smile, “Besides Sara got in touch with me not long before Superman arrived at Palmer Tech.”

“So she’s finally started recreating the Legends?” Soron said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Ray said with a knowing smile, “Thank you by the way.”

“For what?” Soron lied, “I didn’t do anything.”

“Sure you didn’t,” Ray said deciding not to press the issue any further, “Well, it’s been real.”

“Don’t be a stranger,” Soron said as he and Ray stood up from the table and shook hands.

“One day,” Ray said grinning, “Yes, one day I shall come back.”

“Isn’t that a bit redundant?” Soron asked in confusion.

“You need to catch up on your tv shows,” Ray sighed, “That was a line from Doctor Who. I suggest you start from the classics.”

“Okay?” Soron said still confused before he asked, “Who’ll be managing Palmer Tech while you’re gone?”

“A blonde woman,” Ray replied, “I think her name is… Felicity Smoak. Incredibly smart, and does accidental innuendos when she rambles. Which is a lot by the way.”

“I’ll try not to laugh,” Soron said allowing a small smile, “Now get outta here tiny. Go save all of time.”

“Ay ay Captain,” Ray joked before he walked out of the cafeteria. When Ray was gone Soron looked down at his soda before draining it and leaving the room without moving the empty cup to the kitchen area. When he reached the central hub he stopped as he looked around. Before he turned towards where the teleporter was he saw Diana in a conversation with J’onn, Batman, GL, and Superman.

_ “Why don’t you join us,” _ J’onn said via his telepathic powers to Soron. Soron took a second before he flew over to them.

“Diana was just telling us of how you disapprove of our secret weapon,” GL said to Soron when he got to the 5 original Leaguers.

“I have to say that I too disapprove,” Superman admitted.

“As do I,” Batman said, “But everyone here remembers the Thanagarian invasion. We had to nearly sacrifice one of our own to save the world. This device was intended to only be used for a situation like that again. So we elected to go with the lesser of two evils.”

“Not even the Avengers, who don’t shy away from killing by the way, would never create such a weapon,” Soron said narrowing his eyes, “Sometimes the lesser of two evils is to keep yourselves weaker instead of getting stronger.”

“Maybe so,” Superman said, “But can you blame us? What the Thanagarians nearly accomplished terrified us.”

“What do you think your weapon did to General Eiling?!” Soron exclaimed.

“Knowing him,” said a voice from behind them. When they looked towards the voice they saw Wally West aka the Flash standing there with a donut in his hand.

“It made him like us even less,” Flash continued, “Might even give him legal authority to declare war on us.”

“I don’t care,” Batman said bluntly, “If we didn’t add the weapon to the Watchtower we wouldn’t have been able to hold the Replicators off as long as we did.”

“Maybe so,” Soron said, “But I can’t be a member of the League if we’re going to keep a dangerous weapon like that around! Just imagine if it gets into the wrong hands! You have no idea how dangerous this weapon truly is!”

“Diana told us of your past experience concerning a similar weapon,” GL said reassuringly, “We’ll take special precautions to keep anything like that from happening.”

“You better,” Soron warned.

“We’ve already come up with a way to ensure it is used properly,” said a voice from behind them. When they turned around they saw a strange being standing there.

“Who the hell are you?!” demanded GL as he got into a stance while his ring glowed.

“I am a Lord of Order,” replied the being, “You know of one of our associates.”

“I thought your kind could only acquire a body by using a talisman of sorts,” Batman said narrowing his eyes.

“There are certain cases where we can appear in the physical realm,” the being responded.

“What way were you talking about?” Superman asked.

“You give complete control of the weapon to him,” the being answered as it pointed at Soron.

“Me?!” Soron exclaimed in shock, “Why would a Lord of Order want a chaos-bringer like me to have control of a doomsday device?”

“You are more of an agent of order than you realize,” the Lord of Order explained, “Your way of seeing things has been influenced by this reality. You no longer kill to claim victory, and you do whatever you can to maintain the peace.”

“Oh,” Soron said speechless, “Well… that’s… um… okay.”

“It is settled then?” the Lord of Order asked.

“Fine by me,” Diana smiled, “I would trust him with the device. He’s saved my life more than once. He has saved the Earth once already as well.”

Superman, Flash, and J’onn all nodded their agreement while GL hesitated for half an hour till he reluctantly agreed. Batman stayed silent as he walked off.

“The correct changes will be done by tomorrow,” J’onn said, “In the meanwhile, I suggest you all go home and relax. You’ll need it for future missions.”

“Oh come on!” Flash complained, “I just got here! Now I have to go home?!”

Everyone just rolled his eyes at Flash’s whining as they went their own way. When Soron looked towards where the Lord of Order stood, he saw that the being had vanished back to the ethereal plane it originated from.

“All good things come to an end,” Soron said as he looked out the window.

“What are you talking about?” Diana asked in confusion.

“The World governments won’t be as accepting of the League as they were before today,” Soron explained, “There’s a storm coming Diana, and we have to prepare for the worst but hope for the best.”

“Come on,” Diana said changing the subject, “Let’s go finish our date.”

“Let’s just go home and watch a movie,” Soron sighed as he turned around, “I just want to relax.”

“Why not,” Diana said with a smile as they headed towards the teleporter, “What shall we watch?”

“I think I’ll introduce you to Stargate,” Soron said, “Honestly, one of the best human sources of entertainment I’ve ever seen. Firefly is as well, but that was canceled cause Fox only care about the numbers of views. I hope that, one day, Firefly will return to the screen.”

**At the Pentagon…**

General Wade Eiling was standing before his superiors as he tried to convince them that the Justice League were a threat that had to be neutralized before it was too late.

“They have a giant doomsday weapon!” Eiling said urgently, “They could turn it on us if they wanted to! They don’t have any allegiance to any of the world’s governments!”

“Bring us proof Wade,” sighed one of his superiors, “and then we’ll consider your proposal.”

“I will Generals,” General Eiling said before he was dismissed and when he left he was furious that his superiors were still intent on believing the Justice League was on the human race’s side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the midseason finale. i'll take a break from this story till i become interested in working on it again. When this story returns it will hopefully be done in an epic way.


	17. Endgame

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soron finally gets revenge for Gamora's death, and time gets reset.

Endgame

 

It had been a few days since the invasion of the biomechanoid aliens, and things had been quite. Especially, since they were trying to forget about the Justice League’s terrifying secret weapon. Unfortunately, doing so was not easy. Especially, with Morgan Edge spouting propaganda about the Justice League. Soron was currently patrolling the skies of Chicago, much to the chagrin of the city. He saw a bus suddenly weaving around and speeding up, and immediately flew down to stop it in its tracks. As soon as he landed he held out his hands just before the bus rammed into him. The bus’ inertia caused the back of it to jump into the air before it landed again. As soon as he was satisfied that the bus was safely stopped he stood back.

“Get the hell out of here freak!” shouted some of the onlookers, “we don’t need you supers here anymore!”

“Yeah!” shouted another one, “you’re nothing but an army looking to control humanity with the threat of that secret weapon!”

Soron looked around at all of them, and flashed back to how the galaxy viewed the Nova Corp after they destroyed the Kree homeworld. He knew that it’d take a while before the people were ready to accept heroes again, so all he could do was fly up into the air.

**Meanwhile, in another reality…**

A man in blue robes and a red cape which moved of its own accord was floating as he meditated. Suddenly, he opened his eyes showing that they were black with glowing dots in his eyes. Even though he opened his eyes, he didn’t actually see anything in his house. What he was seeing was Soron flying through the skies of Chicago in another universe wearing the superman outfit from Justice League: War with the Ravager symbol replacing the red “S”.

“Found you,” the man said as his eyes returned to normal. He then stopped floating as he un-crossed his legs. He then used a sling ring to open a golden sparking circle in the air which he walked into. On the other side was a room which looked like it belonged in a rich inventors house.

“Gah!” exclaimed a dark haired man with a beard who was on the other side when the caped man appeared.

“Tony Stark,” said the caped man, “I found him.”

“Found who, Strange?” Tony asked calming down from being startled by the wizard.

“Soron MacLeod,” Doctor Strange said.

“Then bring him back!” Tony said urgently.

“I can’t,” Doctor Strange explained, “he’s in an alternate reality. You’re the only  one I know that can get there.”

“So,” Tony said grinning, “there are some things that magic can’t do huh?”

“Get to work, Stark,” Strange said as he turned around to walk back through the golden circle, “you know we don’t have much time.”

Before Tony could respond, Strange walked into the circle which closed behind him. Tony frowned at how serious Strange was all the time, but he knew that Strange had a point. They needed to hurry and bring Soron back before HE returns.

**Back with Soron…**

Soron was now back in his mansion on his own, as Diana had been spending time on Themyscira with her mother for a while mending things between them. Right now Soron was sitting in his armchair in front of a roaring fire with a drink in his hands. His attire had changed to being only boxer shorts under a bathrobe. He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice as someone walked up behind him.

“Why so glum?” asked the familiar voice of Diana from above him. Soron looked up and saw Diana looking at him with a concerned look on her face.

“It’s happening again,” Soron said grimly as he looked back down at the fire, “and this time, I’m a part of it.”

“People will forget about that day,” Diana said as she walked around to look at his face, “just give it time.”

“People like Morgan Edge won’t let them forget,” Soron said as he stood up, “they will keep stoking the flames of hate until they get what they want. They want heroes to be the servants of the government if not gone entirely.”

“It’s our job to inspire them otherwise,” Diana countered as she grabbed his hand.

“I hope you’re right,” Soron sighed.

“Of course I am,” Diana said before she pulled him in for a kiss. He then kissed her back.

**Back in the other reality…**

A purple man wearing golden armor stood on the bridge of his ship as he remembered the dark day he vicious killed his own daughter and granddaughter in a fit of rage. He felt a tear slide drip from his eye and then wiped at it.

“Lord Thanos,” said the form of Ebony Maw from behind him, “We are getting closer to the planet called Earth once more.”

“Good,” Thanos said as he turned around, “Inform me as soon as we arrive. There is a job that is yet to be finished.”

He then walked past Ebony Maw clanking as he went due to his armor.

“The Eternity Forge is still our goal then?” Ebony Maw asked nervously.

“Of course,” Thanos said as he stopped at the door for a quick second.

**With Soron and Diana…**

Soron and Diana woke up the morning after the day Soron saved the bus and the people inside. They had spent the rest of the day, and most of the night screwing each other. Soron was feeling a bit better emotionally this morning because of that, but he still felt like the world was getting darker. However, as Diana slid down under the covers he forgot entirely about that feeling as pleasure took its place.

**Later…**

Soron and Diana were fully dressed and walking down the streets of Chicago choosing to ignore all the propaganda about heroes being evil. However, they weren’t able to forget it for long as they were blocked by a group of people watching a tv screen behind some glass that was showing the news.

_ “That ‘Watchtower’ of the Justice League’s?” _ said a man that looked like Adrian Pasdar,  _ “It is nothing more than a death star equivalent that can be used against us whenever they desire. There is literally nothing we can do about it either.” _

_ “How can you be so sure, Mr. Edge?” _ asked a reporter off-screen. 

_ “I can be so sure,” _ Morgan Edge replied, _ “because of my associate General Wade Eiling. His weapon experts have told him that the weapon they used to destroy those biomechanoid aliens is so powerful that not even the highly advanced tech that belongs to the Atlanteans can stand up to it.” _

At that, Soron and Diana walked around the group doing their best to put what they just heard out of their minds. They kept on walking until they saw a blue glow come from their right down an alley. They both narrowed their eyes as they went in to investigate it. When they arrived at the glow, they found a swirling blue portal. Suddenly, a man wearing a red and gold suit of armor popped out rolling on the floor.

_ “Okay,” _ groaned the man,  _ “Next time, I’m not going to run into the portal.” _

He slowly got up onto his feet and when he did, he saw Soron and Diana.

_ “Finally!” _ the man said popping up his faceplate, “been a while.”

“Indeed it has,” Soron said with a smile recognizing Tony, “How-”

“How did I find you?” Tony said, “Doctor Strange did the finding. I just built the tech to get here.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Soron laughed.

“Who is he?” Diana asked confused.

“I’m sorry,” Soron said looking at Diana, “I forgot.”

“Diana meet Tony,” Soron continued looking at them both, “Tony meet Diana.”

“Yeah,” Tony said, “Hi. Look, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“How so?” Soron asked frowning.

“You survived Thanos’ Infinity Snap,” Tony explained, “That’s why you’re the only one that can kill him. He’s coming back. We have no idea why, but we have to stop him from obtaining his goal.”

Soron and Diana conversed for a while on what to do, but eventually they decided to join Tony in fighting Thanos. They quickly entered the portal, and as soon as they had arrived on the other side they found that the room was full. Soron looked up at the banner… no… two banners, and stared open mouthed. Steve Rogers, Hawkeye, Thor, Natasha, and Bruce Banner were there. There was also Drax, Rocket, Groot… and Nebula. Nebula had grown into a fine teen girl, and looked very much like Gamora.

“Nebula…” Soron said stumbling.

“Hi, dad,” Nebula said tearing up. They both ran at each other and hugged like crazy. Diana wasn’t even jealous as she knew how important this is for Soron. Also, its not as if he was sexually or romantically interested in his own daughter.

“Okay,” said Rocket walking up and splitting them apart, “breath you two. Don’t want to have to resurrect you two.”

“You brought her back?” Soron asked looking down at Rocket.

“Of course,” Rocket, “she’s your kid, and that makes her family. Now, come on ya big idiot. There’s a party to start.”

“What about Thanos?” Soron asked standing up, “was that just a ploy to get me back? You could’ve just told me that my daughter was alive again.”

“The threat is very real,” said Doctor Strange as he appeared, “however, I figured we could kill two birds with one stone.”

Suddenly, something big fell through the roof. They whirled around to look at it, and when the dust cleared they could see Thanos.

“You,” Soron snarled before he flew at the Mad Titan and tackled him carrying him out of the building creating another hole.

“He has superpowers?!” Tony exclaimed, “and I made him that suit of armor too! What a waste of time!”

“I can honestly say that I’m not surprised,” Rocket remarked, “If Quill could be half celestial being, then why can’t MacLeod have hidden powers?”

**With Soron…**

Soron flew them high into the sky before flying down towards the Earth creating a gigantic crater when they landed. He then punched Thanos in the face with his right fist again and again and again. He didn’t stop until Thanos grabbed him by the head and threw him away into wall of a building.

“You survived my Infinity Snap,” Thanos said impressed as he got to his feet, “Nobody has done that before.”

“I’ll rip your throat out,” soron snarled as he too got up. However, before either of them could do anything the assembled heroes all attacked Thanos with Diana in the lead and wearing her Wonder Woman outfit. To be expected, Thanos managed to beat all of them. Soron took advantage of the distraction and flew at Thanos. Thanos turned just in time for Soron to plunge his hand deep into Thanos’ chest before pulling out his heart.

“You should’ve gone for the head,” Thanos said as he crushed a device that was in his hand. Suddenly, a blinding light emitted and time had been reset in both Diana’s and Soron’s realities. Everything that has ever happened or could’ve happened are no more.

THE END.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know. this final chapter was actually kinda bad, but tbh i didn't like how i wrote this entire story. i have rebooted this story with a better one called Captain America: Unlimited. it's going to be much more mature due to smut scenes and so will only be found on AO3. i do request that you go read it. i only wrote this chapter because i wanted to get the word out and not leave the story at a cliffhanger like so many story writers have done.


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